The China symposium offered a chance to discuss in more depth the ideas and questions addressed by Professor Rana Mitter and Professor David Daokui Li in their Tanner Lecture 2025 on 17 March 2025. Furthermore, the symposium sought to explore the multifaceted relationship between the West and China, focusing on academic engagement, trade, and cultural exchange. It aimed to provide insights into the opportunities and challenges of engagement, and to discuss strategies for fostering balanced, mutually beneficial partnerships.

Topics for discussion and questions:

The Geopolitics of Academic Exchange

• Examining the collaboration between Western universities and Chinese institutions, the opportunities for knowledge exchange, and the risks of engagement and disengagement.
• Academic collaboration and research on climate change
• How does collaboration with Chinese universities impact research innovation?
• What are the risks to academic freedom, intellectual property, security and reputation?
• How would disengagement affect academic and economic landscapes?

Trade and Economic Engagement with China

• How should the UK and West approach trade with China, recognising it as a global economic superpower and the world’s second-largest country by population? What is the role of power as the basis for trade relations today?
• What sectors present the greatest opportunities for UK-China trade? How to address concerns about economic dependency and ethical issues?
• What stance will the new US government take on China and how will US-China relations influence broader relations between the West and China?
• How will technology, in particular AI, influence relations between the West and China and what role can universities play in this area?
• How is climate change affecting China and how is it responding?

Cultural Exchange and Mutual Understanding

• Exploring how to enhance cultural exchange with China to deepen mutual understanding and strengthen people-to-people connections.
• What initiatives have been most successful in fostering cultural dialogue? Do cultural relations with China tend to be mostly one-way?
• Exploring Chinese popular culture and social media
• Chinese philosophy and its contemporary relevance
• How can cultural exchanges address stereotypes and build trust between societies?
• What role do art, education, languages and tourism play in enhancing cultural ties?