More than forty years after the normalization of relations between the United States and China, this “most consequential bilateral relationship” today faces new and fundamental challenges with global implications. There is no ready template for a relationship between two great powers that are deeply interdependent, yet increasingly see one another as rivals and possibly adversaries. The need for original thinking, and new voices, is urgent.
The Penn Project on the Future of U.S.-China Relations meets this critical need by incubating and amplifying recommendations on U.S. policies toward China from next generation China scholars and analysts, who are selected as Project Fellows through a competitive process. The Project has two primary goals: (i) to provide a forum for rising U.S.-based scholars and analysts of China to contribute academically informed, policy relevant analysis on the most pressing issues in U.S.-China relations; (ii) to deepen U.S. capacity to understand and evaluate critical issues in the U.S.-China relationship. In each cohort, Project Fellows are distributed across six key issue areas: National Security; Trade & Economics; Science & Technology; Human Rights, Law, & Democracy; Climate & Environment; and Research, Education, & Academic Freedom.
The Project launched in January 2020 with its inaugural fellowship cohort, whose policy papers are posted on the Project website. Over the following years, this fellowship cohort shared their findings and recommendations also in Project webinars; with congressional staff at a briefing in Washington, DC co-organized with the Center for Strategic and International Studies; and a workshop with Chinese counterparts in Beijing co-organized with Tsinghua University’s Center for International Security and Strategy. The Project’s second fellowship cohort was announced in April 2024.
After an initial meeting at the University of Pennsylvania, the second cohort of Project Fellows traveled to Beijing in July 2024 to once again engage in substantive dialogue with Chinese counterparts, and to conduct further research on the topics of their respective policy papers. Draft versions of their policy papers and recommendations were shared in dedicated briefings for policymakers in Washington, DC in September 2024, and disseminated to the wider public through publication on the Project website and discussion on Project webinars in January and February 2025. The Project’s third fellowship cohort was announced in May 2025.
The Project is supported by generous grants from Penn’s China Research and Engagement Fund, the Henry Luce Foundation, and the Carnegie Corporation of New York. It benefits from ongoing advice and feedback from several eminent academics and practitioners convened as Senior Advisors, as well as valuable participation from other Contributors. On campus, the Project involves Penn undergraduates through its Student Fellows program, and through a policy task force on U.S.-China Relations taught as a Penn Global Seminar, with support from the SNF Paideia Program. A related initiative, the Transatlantic and European Dialogue on China, which convenes next generation China scholars and experts from across Europe to develop recommendations for European policymakers and policy relevant actors, is supported by the Ford Foundation. The launch of a similar initiative for the Asia-Pacific region, the Transpacific and Asian Dialogue on China, was announced in December 2024.
From January 2020 to October 2023, the Project was hosted by Penn’s Center for the Study of Contemporary China, and led by Jacques deLisle, Avery Goldstein, and Neysun Mahboubi. As of October 2023, the Project is hosted by Penn Global, and directed by Neysun Mahboubi.