Susan St.Denis, studying at Tsinghua University in China, feels the pressure of being a 'free diplomat' as tensions between the U.S. and China rise. With American students in China dwindling to fewer than 900, she and others face constant inquiries about U.S. politics from Chinese classmates and vice versa. Educational exchanges, essential for mutual understanding, have sharply declined from nearly 15,000 American students in 2011 to just 880 in 2024, raising concerns about the future of U.S.-China relations and the importance of understanding each other's cultures and policies.
I am constantly on call and I have to constantly be ready to answer questions, said St.Denis, who is now earning a graduate degree in Chinese politics at Beijing's Tsinghua University.
The U.S. and China are probably the two most important geopolitical powers, so it behooves us to know about China at all levels and to have Americans here, said David Moser.
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