Chi Wang

Opinion | How the US-China knowledge gap is hurting American diplomatic efforts

The top Chinese diplomat speaks fluent English, but the US Secretary of State does not speak Chinese. Their meeting in Alaska highlights a US-China gap

It is worrying that as the US and China move towards a ‘new cold war’, the next generation of US policymakers may be even less well-informed about China

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Chi Wang

Published: 1:00am, 30 Mar 2021Updated: 1:42am, 30 Mar 2021

The first high-level meeting of the Biden presidency between US and Chinese officials in Anchorage, Alaska made headlines for its departure from diplomatic norms, most notoriously during top Chinese diplomat Yang Jiechi’s 15-minute diatribe against the US. The meeting gave both sides a chance to air long-standing grievances.

But it also highlighted a worrisome trend in US-China relations – the knowledge gap between Chinese and Americans when it comes to understanding each other’s government, politics and civilisation. There are other important gaps between the US and China facing scrutiny – such as in artificial intelligence and 5G technology – but this gap, I believe, is going unnoticed and could have disastrous implications for the US down the road.

Yang’s now-famous speech accusing the US of hypocrisy was delivered in Chinese, but he noted in English after finishing, in one of the meeting’s lighter moments: “This is a test for the translator.” Yang studied in Britain and speaks fluent English; in the past, he has criticised translators’ work.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken agreed that it would be a challenge for the translator, but unlike Yang, he would have no way of gauging whether the translator was up to the task as he does not speak Chinese. Neither does national security adviser Jake Sullivan, nor any of Biden’s top China advisers.

04:07

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This highlights a larger issue in US-China relations – Chinese understanding of the US far exceeds American understanding of China. Part of this is actively induced by China; Chinese civilisation is often portrayed as singular and complex, which may discourage Americans from believing they can understand China or even attempt to.