Several students and scholars discussed China’s role in the world Monday, considering whether the country is moving toward a bilateral partnership with the United States. This new relationship would mean both countries will stand on equal international footing. 

The National Committee on United States – China Relations hosted a China Town Hall in conjunction with 66 other locations worldwide. N.C. State live streamed the event to students and faculty. 

Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright gave audiences a lecture about how current Americans and Chinese officials see the relationship between the two countries. Albright lectured about almost every hot topic, from the Middle East to cyber spying to air pollution in Beijing. 

“This relationship is the most important bilateral relationship in this century,” Albright said. “A lot of people are wondering if the United States and China work together to solve world problems.” 

Albright said her relationship with China began in mid-1970s, in Washington, where she served on President Jimmy Carter’s National Security Staff. She then referenced President Nixon’s attempts to strengthen the ties between the two countries in his 1972 visit, which was, at the time, the first visit of an American president to the foreign country in more than 25 years. 

“Since then, all administrations since Nixon have sought to maintain stable relationships with China,” Albright said. “Five Chinese regimes have done the same. Our relationship must continue to endure. Washington doesn’t want to manage all the world’s burdens.” 

Albright also talked about the increasing importance China should have in managing these burdens. 

“The United States is indispensable, but indispensable doesn’t mean alone,” Albright said. The major world issues include terrorism, nuclear proliferation and global pandemics. These require us to have partners, and I believe the Chinese have interest in the same issues.”

Albright said changing trends in the Middle East shouldn’t affect the role of the United States, however.

“Even though the United States is getting less dependent on Middle Eastern oil and China is getting more dependent, the United States is not interested in abandoning the Middle East only to have Russia or China take over,” Albright said.

Albright said that even though cyber spying is a problem, countries have spied on each other for hundreds of years. What’s causing concern is economic spying, which happens when a country spies on businesses. 

“We need to establish a new set of rules for this cyber age,” Albright said. “Currently, there are no rules. We are most worried about espionage in industrial areas.”

Albright said talks such as these are necessary to re-evaluate diplomatic procedures. 

“If I’ve learned one thing from my years of diplomacy, it’s that nothing is inevitable. A nation’s path through history must be constantly reassessed,” Albright said. 

After Albright’s lecture finished, Anne-Marie Brady, an associate professor of political science at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand, lectured audiences about Chinese political messaging tactics. 

Brady said that although many people don’t like the word propaganda, it’s a genuine task of the government in China. She compared it to American mass communication or public information. 

“China’s modern day propaganda is now mostly market-friendly, scientific, high tech and politics lite,” Brady said. “China has deliberately absorbed the modern methods of mass persuasion commonly utilized in Western democratic societies.”

Brady said that the Chinese government is extremely mindful of public opinion and very responsive to it.