Past Summits

2026 Conference

February 20 - 22, 2026
Sharing the Future: Global Connectivity and Collaboration in U.S.-China Relations

In today’s interconnected world, the United States and China stand as the two largest players in the global system, distinct in values and governance, yet bound together by economic ties, technological interdependence, and shared global commitments and responsibilities. This bilateral relationship has shaped the contours of international order for decades. As the world faces mounting challenges and promising opportunities: climate change, economic decoupling, geographical conflicts, technological rivalries, we at CLS seek to analyze how these two superpowers will come together to shape our world’s shared future.

The future of U.S.-China relations relies on both acknowledging and strategically managing the two nations’ differences, alongside a commitment to cooperation in a diverse range of areas that promise transformative benefits. However, several critical questions remain regarding this path forward: Through what channels and methods will the two nations come together to negotiate cooperation? What collaborative frameworks can be established to address the pressing global challenges of today and of tomorrow? Where do shared interests create opportunities for joint leadership, and where must they sometimes diverge to allow for the harmonious co-existence of these two superpowers?

We aim to examine these questions and imagine the various possibilities for a more connected and collaborative global order at the 2026 Duke-UNC China Leadership Summit: Sharing the Future: Global Connectivity and Collaboration in U.S.-China Relations.

David J. Firestein is the inaugural president and CEO of the George H. W. Bush Foundation for U.S.-China Relations (Bush-China Foundation). A decorated career U.S. diplomat from 1992–2010, Firestein specialized primarily in U.S.-China relations. Among the honors he garnered during his diplomatic career were the Secretary of State’s Award for Public Outreach (2006) and the Linguist of the Year Award (1997). Prior to joining the Bush China Foundation, Firestein was the founding executive director of The University of Texas at Austin’s (UT) China Public Policy Center (CPPC) and a clinical professor at UT’s Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs. Firestein also previously served as senior vice president and Perot Fellow at the New York City-based EastWest Institute (EWI).

Shu-chin Tsui is a Professor of Asian Studies and Cinema Studies at Bowdoin College. Her scholarly work extends across film studies, cultural studies, and visual art studies with a focus on gender politics. She most recently published the book Ecological and Environmental Turns: (Re)mapping China’s Sociocultural Landscape through Ecocinema (Cambria Press, 2025), which addresses critical issues related to the eco-environmental crisis. Tsui's first book, Women Through the Lens: Gender and Nation in a Century of Chinese Cinema, considers the role of women as visual image and discursive element in twentieth-century China. Her second book, Gendered Bodies: Toward A Women’s Visual Art in Contemporary China, examines how female artists employ the body as a mode of self-expression and respond to socio-political issues. She also spearheaded an art exhibition named Break Through: Women Artists and Works in Contemporary China at Bowdoin in 2013.

Ryan McElveen serves as managing director of the U.S.-China Education Trust (USCET) and a member of the Fairfax County School Board, to which he was first elected in 2011. Prior to joining USCET, he served for 13 years as associate director of the John L. Thornton China Center at the Brookings Institution, where he oversaw U.S.-China track II dialogues and institutional partnerships. McElveen's work on the U.S.-China Dialogue on Artificial Intelligence and National Security laid the groundwork for the November 2024 agreement between Presidents Xi Jinping and Joe Biden to maintain human control over the decision to use nuclear weapons and the creation of a U.S.-China glossary of AI terms to serve as a basis for future negotiations and agreements. He is also the founder and managing director of the Global Leaders of Fairfax County program, which prepares high school seniors to be global citizens and change agents in their community and the world. He holds a M.I.A. in human rights from Columbia University and a B.A. in Anthropology and East Asian Studies from the University of Virginia.

Clara Park is a Senior Research Scientist at Duke University. Her scholarly work examines international trade and finance, climate change, and US foreign economic policy in the Asia-Pacific region. Her most recent book, Making Financial Globalization (Oxford University Press, 2024), examines the interaction of institutions and interest groups in financial globalization. Her forthcoming books focus on the Geopolitics of the Critical Minerals Supply Chain and the Political Economy of Climate Change.

Dr. Andy Rodekohr is an Associate Professor and Chair of East Asian Languages and Cultures at Wake Forest University. His scholarly work focuses on Chinese and East Asian film, literature, and popular culture. His current book project, Crowd Spectacular: Conjuring the Masses in Modern China, foregrounds the imagination, representation, and circulation of crowd images in China as a mode of cultural production pivotal to the ideological construction of the political masses. Rodekohr's other research interests include the development of cinematic new waves in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and China, the musical, cultural and technological legacies of the pop singer Teresa Teng, and the globalization of Chinese martial arts through narrative.

Min Jiang is a Professor of Communication Studies at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and a Secretariat member of the annual international Chinese Internet Research Conference. Her scholarly work examines the intersection between digital technology, geopolitics, and policy with a focus on China and the Global South. Jiang recently co-edited the book Digital Sovereignty in the BRICS Countries, which was published by Cambridge University Press in 2024. She also edits several flagship academic journals in Communication Studies, including International Journal of Communication, Journal of International and Intercultural Communication, Global Perspectives and Communication & the Public.

Dr. Jackson Ewing is director of energy and climate policy at the Duke University Nicholas Institute of Energy, Environment & Sustainability. He is also an adjunct associate professor at the Nicholas School of the Environment and a faculty affiliate with the Duke Center for International Development at the Sanford School of Public Policy. Dr. Ewing’s current work focuses on international climate finance and just energy transition partnerships, environmental markets, US national energy transition policies, and US-China climate and energy relations. He also leads educational exchanges between Asia and the United States through a leadership role with Duke Kunshan University in greater Shanghai. Prior to joining Duke, Dr. Ewing was director of Asian Sustainability at the Asia Society Policy Institute under the leadership of the Hon. Kevin Rudd, where he led projects on Asian carbon market cooperation and sustainable resource development in the ASEAN Economic Community.

Ting Wang is an Assistant Professor of Sociology, Criminology & Justice at the University of North Carolina in Greensboro. As a passionate criminologist with a focus on gender issues, her scholarly work encompasses criminology, criminal justice, gender studies, social network analysis, Asian and Asian American Studies, and China Studies. Her debut book, The Lonely Generation: Unraveling China’s Population Crisis After the One-Child Policy, explores how the evolution or stagnation of China's cultural and structural norms influences women's lives and choices in contemporary China. Within a month of publication, The Lonely Generation won the Best Book Prize from the Asian Studies Association.

Klaus Larres is the Richard M. Krasno Distinguished Professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His scholarly work focuses on contemporary U.S. and German/EU foreign, economic, and security policies toward the transatlantic world, China, and Southeast Asia. He has authored, co-authored, and edited numerous books in the field of international relations. Larres' most recent book, Uncertain Allies: Nixon, Kissinger and the Threat of a United Europe (Yale UP, 2022), examines transatlantic tension and disputes during the Nixon/Kissinger era. He previously served as a Global Europe & Kissinger China Institute Fellow and then a Global Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center, in addition to the Henry A Kissinger Chair in Foreign Policy and International Relations at the Library of Congress. He also served as a Senior Policy Adviser at the German Embassy in Beijing, China. Larres writes a regular column 'Understanding America' and 'Impressions from China' for the German daily newspaper Koelner Stadtanzeiger.

Jeannette L. Chu is Vice President for National Security Policy at the National Foreign Trade Council. In this role, she leads efforts to advance the interests of U.S. business in safeguarding U.S. national security and promoting global security through export controls, sanctions regimes and policy initiatives. She previously served as a Senior Managing Director at PricewaterhouseCoopers, advising U.S. and multinational companies and co-leading the national security regulatory compliance practice. She has also served as a Senior Policy Advisor at the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) in the U.S. Department of Commerce, where she worked on export control reform, export licensing and foreign policy matters.

James Hudson is an Associate Professor of History at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke. His scholarly work focuses on the early 20th-century trade relationship between the United States and China, particularly through the lens of the Standard Oil Company of New York. His upcoming book project is entitled Under Siege: Standard Oil in Nationalist South China, 1915–1937. Hudson was recently named a minority-serving institutions faculty fellow by the Carolina Asia Center and Carolina Asia Center and the Institute for the Arts and Humanities at UNC–Chapel Hill.

Jean C. Oi is the William Haas Professor of Chinese Politics in the Department of Political Science and a Senior Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI) at Stanford University. She is on academic leave 2025-2026 to be the Inaugural holder of the Goh Keng Swee Chair in Chinese Studies, East Asian Institute, National University of Singapore. Her scholarly work focuses on comparative politics, with special expertise on China’s political economy and institutions in the process of reform. Oi's first book, State and Peasant in Contemporary China: The Political Economy of Village Government, examined the interaction between peasant leaders and state officials, and in particular the relationship between power at the level of villages and higher regional powers. Her second book, Rural China Takes Off: Institutional Foundations of Economic Reform, studied the actions and incentives of government officials in China at local and regional levels. A 2019 study showed that Oi was among the top 40 most-cited female scholars in the field of political science.

Han Chen is a China researcher based in Washington, D.C. At work, he manages an open-source project, coordinates events, and conducts wide-ranging research related to China's domestic politics and foreign policy. Previously, he was an editorial fellow at Axios with a focus on U.S.-China relations and demographic trends. He also worked as a broadcaster with Radio Free Asia, where he reported on human rights in China and Beijing's influence abroad. His work has also appeared in Foreign Policy, The Diplomat, and Voice of America, among other outlets. He graduated from Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at the City University of New York with an M.A. in international reporting, and he holds a B.A. in journalism with a minor in Jewish studies from Pennsylvania State University. Han was born and raised in China, but he has now spent almost half of his life in the United States.

Dr. Wen Xiong is a Professor of Chinese Studies and the Sara Lee Endowed Chair Professor of the Department of World Languages and Cultures at Winston Salem State University, North Carolina. With over 35 years of experience in the field across three continents, her scholarly work focuses on teaching and learning Chinese as a second/foreign language. She most recently published the book The L2 Acquisition of the Chinese Modal Auxiliary Verbs, adding to her existing body of work, which includes seven textbooks for learners of Chinese by Beijing Language University Press and many journal articles and presentations at national and international level. She is the recipient of multiple teaching awards and the founder of Chinese programs at different universities.

Keren Zhu is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Davidson College. Her scholarly work examines global China, infrastructure development, US-China relations, and East Asian political economy, with a particular focus on China's Belt and Road Initiative. Zhu also hosts The Belt and Road podcast, which explores the changing faces of China’s global engagement, and her upcoming book project studies the impact of China-financed infrastructure projects on the Global South. Prior to joining Davidson College, Zhu taught at the University of Southern California and conducted research as a postdoctoral research fellow at the Boston University Global Development Policy Center and The New School India China Institute.

Penelope Prime is Founding Director of the China Research Center based in Atlanta. One of the first American graduate students to visit China for dissertation research, Dr. Prime’s research focuses on China’s economy and business environment, including China’s foreign trade and investment, industrial and technological progress, and provincial development, as well as applied business and economics cases on China and Asia. Dr. Prime's books include Global Giant: Is China Changing the Rules of the Game? and Taiwan’s Democracy: Economic and Political Challenges. She has taken over 400 students to China, conducted field research in China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, analyzed China's economy for the Center for International Research at the U.S. Bureau of the Census and worked with companies on China strategy, business environment, negotiations, and cultural understanding.

Dr. Shitong Qiao is Professor of Law and the Ken Young-Gak Yun and Jinah Park Yun Research Scholar at Duke Law School. He also holds the title of Honorary Professor at the University of Hong Kong and is a core faculty member of the Asia/Pacific Studies Institute at Duke University. He was previously a tenured professor at the University of Hong Kong, a Law and Public Affairs (LAPA) fellow at Princeton University, and the inaugural Jerome A. Cohen Visiting Professor of Law at NYU. Professor Qiao employs mixed methods to explore the relationship between political power, law, and private ordering. His first monograph, Chinese Small Property: The Co-Evolution of Law and Social Norms (Cambridge University Press, 2017), investigates how a real estate economy took off without legal titles. His second monograph, The Authoritarian Commons: Neighborhood Democratization in Urban China (Cambridge University Press, 2025), provides an ethnographic account of how hundreds of millions of Chinese homeowners practice democracy in and beyond their condominium complexes. Professor Qiao has also published numerous articles in top American and Chinese law journals, and won multiple research prizes including the Judge Ralph K. Winter Prize (Yale), the Hessel Yntema Prize (American Society of Comparative Law), and The Masahiko Aoki Award for Economic Paper (Tsinghua). In addition, he has served as an expert witness on the Chinese property regime in China, Canada, and the U.S. He holds law degrees from Wuhan University (LL.B.), Peking University (MPhil), and Yale University (LL.M., J.S.D.).

2025 Conference

February 28 - March 2, 2025
Theme: Bridging the Pacific: Charting the Course of U.S.-China Relations

In the recent past, the U.S.-China bilateral relationship has been marked by moments of convergence and divergence. Despite their differences, these two powers remain inextricably linked, like crossing currents that shape a shared body of water, where every shift influences the broader tides of global affairs. While U.S.-China relations are restabilizing, the world faces increasing tension and difficult challenges: climate change, artificial intelligence, technological rivalry, economic inequalities, increased tariffs, disrupted trade, border conflicts, humanitarian crises, regional wars… Now more than ever, we ask the question: Where do we go from here?

The path forward will require navigating a balance between strategic interests and cooperating on issues that have often been marked by competition. How can “burned bridges” be rebuilt? Will new channels of cooperation be found? How can the U.S. and China work together on pressing global issues like climate action, public health, technological advancement, security concerns, and economic recovery? Where do their strategic interests align, and where must they chart separate paths?

We aim to explore these questions and the future of the world’s most important bilateral relationship in the 2025 Duke-UNC China Leadership Summit: Bridging the Pacific: Charting the Course of U.S.-China Relations.

2024 Conference

March 23 - 24, 2024
Theme: Beyond Binary: Reimagining US-China Narratives

In the past few years, we have witnessed the China-U.S. relationship take a dramatic turn for the worse: escalating geopolitical tension in the South China Sea, breakdown of diplomatic ties, and a rise in cultural protectionism. Above all, we find that the narrative has become increasingly myopic, projecting a future premised on mutually exclusive principles: China or the US, war or peace, autocracy or democracy. The China-U.S. bilateral relationship will not only influence the life of Chinese and American people but also the trajectory of international politics. As such, CLS seeks to diversify the perspectives and solutions presented through our 2024 conference theme of Beyond Binary: Reimagining US-China Narratives.

Robert Nicholas Burns

2023 Conference

March 24 - 25, 2023
Theme: Unwrapping Uncertainties: U.S.-China Relations in A Less Flat World

In recent years, the trend of deglobalization has built up barriers between countries and among people. We witness a withdrawal from global interdependence in different ways: regional wars, border conflicts, increased tariffs, export restrictions, capital controls, anti-immigration, cultural protectionism, etc. The COVID-19 pandemic has only further exacerbated the trend of deglobalization. China and the U.S., two mutually globalizing influences, are shifting their strategies in this new world. Their interaction will not only influence the life of Chinese and American people but also the trajectory of international politics. In a less flat world, we look into the future with the hope of predicting crises, mitigating uncertainties, and redefining existing commonalities.

How do we define U.S.-China relations for the next decade? Will the two countries strengthen their economic interdependence? Will China reopen its borders? And what impacts will it bring to the world? How can a systematic study of history contribute to our predictions of future trends? How are individuals and the civil society shaping U.S.-China relations? We will explore these questions at the 2023 Duke-UNC China Leadership Summit: Unwrapping Uncertainties: U.S.-China Relations in A Less Flat World.

2022 Conference

March 25 - 27, 2022
Theme: A New World Order? The Sino-U.S. Battle for Global Leadership

In the wake of the ongoing pandemic and worsening ties between the U.S. and China, many have wondered what the future looks like for the Sino-U.S. relationship and the world. Rather than using the pandemic as an opportunity to find common ground and solve an issue plaguing us all, China and the U.S. have only grown more competitive and increasingly view global relations as a zero-sum game. Many wonder if irreparable harm has been done to relations between China and the U.S. Is there a way to create a more open, objective, and stronger U.S.-China relationship? Would it even be possible? These are the questions we hope to explore at 2022 CLS summit: A New World Order? The Sino-U.S. Battle for Global Leadership.

Denis Simon

Admiral Dennis C. Blair

Consul General Melissa J. Lan

* These speakers were not able to attend the summit due to time conflict.

2021 Conference

March 19-21 & 26-28, 2021
Theme: Reversing the Tide? The U.S. and China in 2021 and Beyond

In the wake of the ongoing pandemic and worsening ties between the U.S. and China many have wondered what the future looks like for the Sino-U.S. relationship and the world. As the U.S. and China push further away from one another politically and as the rest of us keep away from one another for safety, distance has become the new normal. Eliminating the threat of COVID-19 will take time, but it will happen and life will return to a semblance of normality. But what will it take to remediate relations between China and the U.S.? Is there a way to create a more open, more objective, and stronger U.S.-China relationship? Would producing such a result be desirable? Furthermore, would it even be possible? These are the questions we hope to explore at the summit: Reversing the Tide? The U.S. and China in 2021 and Beyond. (*Due to the impact of COVID-19, this year’s summit was entirely virtual.)

2020 Conference

February 21-23, 2020
Theme: Reframing China: Past, Present, Future

Entering its 10th anniversary, the conference this year will be themed "Reframing China: Past, Present, Future". At a time when the rhetoric in Washington towards Beijing increasingly employs the framework of great-power rivalry, we seek to examine the profound underlying changes in the bilateral relationship. More importantly, we want to encourage CLS attendees to go beyond the headline narratives and pursue a deeper view of China that understands how the country’s complex historical, cultural and societal conditions shape where we stand now. The three days of the conference will focus on “past,” “present” and “future” respectively to develop a holistic and nuanced perspective on China and U.S.- China relations.

2019 Conference

March 22-24, 2019
Theme: China's New Norms

The past year has encapsulated some of the most significant developments in the US-China relationship's forty-year history. From the US-China trade war to China's rapid expansion of the Belt and Road Initiative to consolidation of political power within the Chinese Communist Party, recent events have provided ample opportunities for China-watchers to consider the standards emerging alongside China's increasingly dominant political and global prowess. These new norms not only serve as a testament to China's enormous transformation, but also carry massive policy implications for international actors, both in terms of their domestic politics and international policy towards China in light of these changes. Given the scale of Chinese engagement within the global community-particularly with the US-few actors will go unaffected as a result of these emerging standards.

2018 Conference

March 23-25, 2018
Theme: China's Global Engagement

Over its eight year history, the Duke-UNC China Leadership Summit has explored a diverse range of topics in US-China relations. The notion of engagement has always been an implicit yet crucial aspect of our conference, and it is vital for any stable diplomatic relationship. From hosting President Nixon in the first US Presidential visit to China in 1972, to the announcement of the Belt and Road Initiative, China’s engagement with the world, whether economic, civil, or political, has been the cornerstone of its success and a symbol for its contributions to our world. This year, by exploring topics such as China’s increased FDI into Africa, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, and its rising presence in UN Peacekeeping, we would like to take a deep dive into the notion of engagement and examine how China engages with other international actors. Likewise, engagement is also of vital importance for all young China-watchers, and we hope that this year’s conference will prepare our delegates to think about the ways in which, they, as future leaders, can impact and contribute to global affairs in the coming decades.

2017 Conference

April 7-9, 2017
Theme: China as a Responsible Stakeholder

Keynote Speeches:
Suisheng Zhao, "A revisionist stakeholder: China challenge to the U.S.-led world order"
Chuck Eesley, "Rural entrepreneurship: The story of Alibaba and e-commerce"
Joseph Nye, "Will the liberal order survive?"
Thomas Christensen, "U.S.-China relations and regional security"

2016 Conference

April 7-9, 2016
Theme: China's Soft Power in the 21st Century Global Order

Soft power describes the ability of a country to influence others without employing force or coercion. From Confucius Institutes to educational exchanges, from think tanks to the export of Chinese art and media, China’s recent push for soft power highlights its understanding that power is multifaceted. A legitimate world leader is not only able to push with military and economic dominance, but also pull with cultural and ideological appeal. Like other world leaders throughout history, China also faces many obstacles in its bid for soft power: problems like its aggressive military actions in the South China Sea disputes and failure to liberalize domestically pose threats to China’s perceived legitimacy and popularity abroad. How does soft power play a role in China’s most vital foreign policy objectives? What are the challenges and opportunities China faces, both domestically and internationally, in its bid for non-coercive leadership?

2015 Conference

February 20-22, 2015
Theme: U.S. and China Grand Strategy in Asia Pacific, Africa, and Beyond

First of all, what do we mean by grand strategy? Some narrowly define grand strategy in terms of national security and military concerns. Others define it more broadly to incorporate technological, economic, and political considerations. For us, grand strategy is the fundamental awareness and articulation of a state's foreign policy -- what type of world it seeks to build and what resources it will use to operate in that world.At CLS 2015, we seek to explore how the US and China are using both hard and soft power to assert their influence around the world, particularly in the Asia Pacific and Africa. Where are they competing, and where are they collaborating? Where are they operating in distinct spheres? We hope these discussions will lead us to a greater understanding of each country’s underlying “grand strategy”. On a broader level, how do these developments reflect China’s rise as a global superpower? Will China remain what David Shambaugh calls a “partial power” or embrace a more involved role as a global leader? More importantly, what should be the US response to China’s rise?