From 17 to 19 January 2019, NISCSS President Wu Shicun attended an International Symposium commemorating the 40th anniversary of normalization of US-China diplomatic relations in Atlanta, the United States, upon the invitation of the Carter Center. Other co-organizers of the symposium include the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC), Emory University and the Institute of China-America Studies. More than 300 scholars, government officials, university faculty members and students as well as industry representatives were brought together for the event.

Former US President Jimmy Carter, Chinese Ambassador to the United States Cui Tiankai and CPAFFC President Li Xiaolin delivered remarks at the opening ceremony. NISCSS President Wu Shicun spoke at the workshop on “U.S.-China Relations after the U.S. Midterm Election and Maritime Security”, which is a side event of the symposium, and moderated the panel on US-China maritime issues.

Dr. Wu pointed out in his keynote speech that recently China-US relations saw a remarkable rise of tension and confrontation, which have spilled over from trade disputes into politics, military, and non-governmental exchanges, leading to increasingly disturbing prospects for its future development. In response to current situation, the top priority is to strengthen confidence in developing China-US relations and to reverse the vicious circle within this bilateral relationship. At this very moment, academia, think tanks and the media of the two countries should, through enhanced dialogues and cooperation, promote engagement and consultations rather than encouraging decoupling and confrontation, thereby provide positive energy for sound interaction between China and the United States. With closing gap in strength, widening divergence of interests and shattering mutual trust between the two countries, the previous way of interaction is becoming increasingly unsustainable. Thus, a new model of benign interaction should be  explored and implanted, based on mutual respect, equal consultation, healthy competition and win-win cooperation. 

During his visit to Atlanta, Dr. Wu took interviews with the Xinhua News Agency and People’s Daily respectively on issues such as current China-US relations and South China Sea situation in the year of 2019.

Founded by Former President Jimmy Carter in 1982, the Carter Center, in partnership with Emory University, is committed to the research on conflict prevention and resolution, freedom and democracy enhancement and health improvement. The center currently has 70 projects in progress in the realms of China Studies, political reform, public health and education, just name a few.