US-China relations have the potential to improve under the Biden administration, but the two countries will need to reform their approach to scholarly and student collaboration for there to be a lasting impact on higher education, an expert has suggested.

Gerard Postiglione, emeritus professor and coordinator of the Consortium for ³ÉÈËVRÊÓƵ Research in Asia at the University of Hong Kong, said Sino-US relations were at the lowest point in 40?years, but he was ¡°very hopeful¡± that this might change under the new US government.

¡°If you look at the relationship over the last 225 years, since the birth of the US, there have been lots of ups and downs. So in a sense, we could take a more positive view of the future,¡± he said during a webinar organised by the Centre for Global ³ÉÈËVRÊÓƵ.

¡°The only option is strategic stabilisation,¡± he added, borrowing an idea from former Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd. ¡°The two countries need to be clear on where the red lines are and stabilise the relationship in order to have certain areas where there is¡­cooperation.¡±

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Professor Postiglione said he had hoped that some of the China-related policies under the Trump administration would have already been reversed, but so far only reviews have been announced.

He proposed a series of recommendations for both governments and universities that could help create a new era of Sino-US university relations within the next year, including a reinstatement of the Fulbright programme in China and Hong Kong ¨C a?move he said was likely ¨C and a reinvigoration of the Obama-era 100,000 Strong initiative, which aimed to have 100,000 US students in China between 2010 and 2014 but fell far short of that figure, according to Professor Postiglione.

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He also called for a more targeted approach to the screening of Chinese scholars coming to the US, describing the ¡°sweeping, very simplistic set of actions¡± that have been implemented over the past four years ¡°nuts¡±.

On the China side, Professor Postiglione said the country must be ¡°more open, inclusive and proactive in strengthening national scientific research cooperation¡± and must ¡°allow more foreign scientists to work in China¡¯s science and technology institutions¡±.

For higher education institutions, he highlighted the US-China University Presidents¡¯ Forum, which took place at Columbia University in 2017 on the theme of ¡°relations over the next 50 years¡±, as a helpful initiative. He suggested that it should be an annual forum in which ¡°things like warning labels on courses or the issue of Confucius Institutes could be better discussed¡±.

Meanwhile, universities should facilitate virtual classes where undergraduates from the US and China can ¡°start cooperating¡­to work on global problems¡± so they are used to collaborating before going into the workplace and eventually taking on leadership positions.

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Professor Postiglione also criticised the tendency among some academics to refer to US-China relations as being like those of the Cold War, saying the ¡°threat discourse dialogue is unhelpful¡±.

¡°It¡¯s a lazy way of discussing something that doesn¡¯t really resemble the Soviet-US relationship,¡± he said, highlighting that thousands of US and Chinese scholars travel between the two countries, which was?not the case between Russia and the US during the Cold War.

Professor Postiglione said the ¡°indicators for success¡± in 10 years would include ¡°more stability in Sino-US university relations than we¡¯ve had over the last four years, a track record of joint success in the sciences, [including] perhaps a joint Nobel on climate change [and the] improvement of campus atmosphere, and protection of university autonomy and academic freedom¡±.

ellie.bothwell@timeshighereducation.com