pacific forum History of Pacific Forum

Issues & Insights Vol. 10 – No. 21

The US-China relationship continues to mature, and well it should, given the increasing interdependence of the two countries’ interests. For over a decade, the Pacific Forum and the Center for American Studies at Fudan University in Shanghai have probed this increasingly important and intertwined relationship.  In recent years, one phrase has attracted attention as the two sides try to identify opportunities for and obstacles to cooperation: “core interests.” Chinese interlocutors in particular use the phrase, and while American participants profess to understand its meaning and content, there has been little attempt to see if in fact US and Chinese understandings align.