China-West Dialogue

The China – West Dialogue (CWD) convened a workshop of thought leaders on the global order hosted by the BU Global Development Policy Center by video conference on March 20,2020.

The China-West Dialogue (CWD) was founded a year ago based on deep concerns about the growing adversarial relationship between the US and China and the need to think beyond the current moment to what alternative frameworks for that relationship might look like over the course of the 2020s.

The expert group assembled for the BU-CWD on March 20th came up with several key conclusions:

that framing the US-China relationship within a broader framework of China-West relations would be more likely to render rebalancing based on more diverse views in the mix, with the participation especially of Europe and Canada instead of an exclusive focus on the toxic China-US relationship;
that the more assertive articulation of alternative views on a new global order and re-imagined global governance by Europe, Canada, Latin America, Africa and Asia would yield a new form of multilateralism which would be more representative and more innovative;
that it is crucial that the current severe global pandemic and the abrupt economic downturn occasioned by it not overwhelm the previously perceived systemic crises that have resulted in the failure of economies to generate social outcomes that are politically sustainable which now threaten confidence in market economies and the legitimacy of domestic governance; and
that stronger global coordination is essential to steering through the immediate global moment toward a longer term trajectory of systemic sustainability and that the US and China need to set aside their differences, halt the blame game and the divisive rhetoric and lead the global coordination effort by finding convergent perspectives on the future, such as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for 2030.

Read the Public Statement for Global Leadership

View the BU-CWD Workshop Agenda

View the BU-CWD Workshop Participant Bios

Read the CWD Mission Statement

Read the GSJ Article

CWD Statement Signatories and CWD Founding Members (*):

*Alan Alexandroff (University of Toronto)

*Jack Austin (Member and Majority Leader, Canadian Parliament)

Erik Balsbaugh (Democratic Party Adviser)

Sergio Bitar (Chilean Senator and Minister of State)

*Colin Bradford (Brookings and GSI/Berlin)

Kerry Brown (Kings College London)