US-China forum kicks off, expected to candidly address relations

The Fifth US-China Young Scholars Forum kicked off on Tuesday via video link where top scholars from the two countries are expected to give frank talks about the current and future state of bilateral relations and the role of the young generation. 

Relations between the world's two major powers have witnessed a downward spiral in the past few years. Tensions have particularly soared this year amid the coronavirus pandemic, during which the two have been engaged in a complex mix of intensifying diplomacy and rivalry in almost all fields. 

The four-day forum is organized by the Carter Center, the Global Times and the Institute for Global Cooperation and Understanding of Peking University. 

"I sincerely hope China and the US are smart enough to control their differences and offer the world a major power relationship in the 21st century of civilized competition," said Hu Xijin, editor-in-chief of the Global Times, in his opening remarks on Tuesday morning, adding that he hopes the forum can point the two countries in the right direction. 

Chinese scholars participating in the forum include Yu Hongjun, senior advisor at the Institute for Global Cooperation and Understanding of Peking University and former vice minister of the International Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, and Wang Jisi, dean of the School of International Studies at Peking University. Their US counterparts include Susan Thornton, former acting Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, and Ezra Vogel, professor of the Social Sciences Emeritus at Harvard University.