Diplomatic ties between China and the U.S. were restored over 50 years ago. Since then, cultural exchange has been a hallmark of the relationship. Can cultural diplomacy be a bridge in international relations?

For nearly five decades, Stephen Orlins has worked on U.S.- China relations. As the relationship has gone through ups and downs, host Mike Walter spoke to him about how cultural diplomacy can play a role in fostering dialogue.

Orlins has served as president of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations since 2005. The nonprofit has a mission of encouraging a deeper understanding of China and the U.S. between citizens of both countries. He speaks Mandarin Chinese and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

“Cultural diplomacy has always been important. But in the last few years, as the government-to-government relationship has become more challenged, cultural diplomacy has become even more important,” Orlins said.

He added, “Today, the common enemy is climate change, terrorism and the pandemic. If the United States, the people will understand that if the United States and China don’t cooperate in these three areas, we’re doomed to failure.”

Creating cultural bridges through animation

Media content is one powerful tool for sharing cultures, particularly with young audiences. Selig has worked with Chinese partners for more than three decades, specializing in programming for children and young people. He is a 12-Time Emmy Award-Winning Creator & Executive Producer for children’s television and film programming.

“When you work with content for young kids, you’re talking about very universal experiences. You’re talking about family, you’re talking about community, talking about having meals together. So these things are really quite global. I find that preschool shows, in particular, travel extremely well between China and other countries,” Selig said.

Selig said that China has “an appetite for international partnerships.”

“I definitely see it as a great place to go and to do business. My business is called China Bridge Content. That’s what we are. We help international folks work with China. We help Chinese companies to work with international partners. The goal is to just make great content that kids will enjoy and learn from,” he said.

Ping pong team retraces China-U.S. history

In 1972, President Nixon’s trip to China marked a major political breakthrough. But a year prior, another historic moment helped thaw China-U.S. relations. The American table tennis visited China for what would become known as ping pong diplomacy. More than 50 years later, students at the University of Virginia relived that history.

“We had a cultural exchange, not only with diplomats and really important ambassadors. But we also met up with students … We did a lot of competition competitions together, friendly competitions, where it would be doubles with an American student and then a Chinese University student, so it’s more of a win-win situation and there’s no losers. And we echoed the sentence, Friends first, competition second,” said Jie Lu, captain of the University of Virginia table tennis team.

Indonesia tackles climate impacts

Indonesia is a country of more than 17,000 islands that’s educating the world about its culture, as well as the threats from climate change – something residents are confronting in real-time. Bimantara is a career diplomat. Born on the island of Bali, he’s worked on advancing Indonesia’s relationship with Australia, New Zealand, Samoa and others. He currently serves as the deputy chief of mission at the Indonesian Embassy in Washington, D.C. 

“In Indonesia, some people also have to relocate because of rising sea levels, because of climate change, because of those emissions that may not historically been our fault…We are pressing a strong case in the UN… on how we can collaborate together, how we can cooperate together to solve what is an existential problem for the world, not just for one country or two, but for all of us,” Bimantara said. 

By some estimates, by 2050, up to 95 percent of Jakarta’s coastal areas could be submerged due to sea-level rise. For this reason, the country has an ambitious plan to move its capital out of Jakarta to Nusantara. 

“The issue of climate, for example, brings us together. Because at the end of the day, whatever your differences are, if we cannot save our planet, we will have nowhere to live,” he said.