Washington, DC - Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Chinese Vice Premier Liu Yandong co-chaired the inaugural U.S.-China Social and Cultural Dialogue today. The Dialogue underlined support for an array of cooperative areas in education, social development, science and technology, health, subnational, arts and culture, and environment and conservation.

In particular, the sides expressed support for the U.S.-China Fulbright program and for additional opportunities to promote study in the United States by Chinese students, who bring billions of dollars to the U.S. economy every year.

The success of our people-to-people ties is due in large part to the dynamism and commitment of the many American non-governmental organizations (NGOs) – such as universities, museums, foundations, advocacy groups, cultural institutions, and sports groups – that work in China. China committed that its Foreign NGO Management Law would not impede the activities of American NGOs in China. The United States looks forward to a new consultation on China’s Foreign NGO Management Law before the end of this year.

Both sides acknowledged the importance of including effective intellectual property protections for researchers in our science and technology cooperation through the U.S.-China Science and Technology Agreement.

Both nations committed to maintain a clear process for the timely sharing of novel influenza viruses in the effort to detect, prevent, and control influenza outbreaks. The Secretary pressed China to take steps toward further healthcare sector liberalizations that would allow U.S. companies and health experts to bring to China high quality healthcare facilities and services.

The social, cultural, and people-to-people ties between our two peoples are both deep rooted and dynamic. In this information age, American and Chinese citizens learn about each other and the world through well-established sources – such as print media, broadcasting, and cinema – and cutting edge electronic media. The Secretary noted the importance of adding media as an additional cooperative area for the Social and Cultural Dialogue in 2018. In this spirit, the Secretary advocated for foreign media access to Chinese audiences.