At an MIT Energy Initiative event, Nicholas Burns, former U.S. ambassador to China, highlighted climate change as an area for diplomatic engagement between the two nations, while exploring areas of competition, including China's greater emphasis on STEM education.

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Nicholas Burns, former U.S. ambassador to China, spoke at an MIT Energy Initiative event about the state of U.S.-China relations, describing them as competitive, tough, and adversarial across military, technology, trade, and values. He highlighted climate change and clean energy as potential areas for cooperation, while noting China's dominance in rare earth elements and clean energy production. Burns also drew attention to the stark disparity in STEM education between the two countries — 36% of Chinese university students major in STEM versus 5% in the U.S. — and emphasized the importance of sustained diplomacy to manage competition and avoid conflict.

Sustaining diplomacy amid competition in US-China relations