The 7th McDonnell Academy International Symposium held in Beijing

Academic collaborations will help ease tensions between the US and China and will contribute to increasing understanding between the leaders of the two countries, said Mark Wrighton, Chancellor of Washington University in St. Louis.

He made the remarks at the 7th McDonnell Academy International Symposium, held October 11-14 in Beijing and co-hosted by Tsinghua University. Some 35 leading research universities from around the globe gathered to address the world's most pressing, critical problems at the event.

"At Washington University, we know our best chances to address the world's greatest challenges come from collaborating with our global partners to produce local solutions," said Wrighton.

"In that spirit, the Symposium will feature expert speakers, executive sessions and workshops offering insight into issues of health and aging, reducing carbon footprint, addressing climate change and air quality," he added.

He pointed out that opportunities are growing in China and many of the students now see their career flourishing in China after graduation from the Washington University.

"But they still had good experience in Washington University and favorable view of America, which would contribute to increasing understanding between the leaders of the two countries and contribute to stronger relations," he stressed.

Regarding China's science development, Wrighton said: "The science which has been done in China is highly competitive and in very important areas, and China should be very proud of what's taking place."

Compared China's science research capacity with the US, he said China had become competitive to the US.

But the US still has better uniformity in terms of the infrastructure across the country. Nationwide there are outstanding research universities, according to him.

In China, as he found, "universities have grown in quality and the uniformity across the country has yet come up with what we have in the US," he pointed out.

"I think the one area China will see interesting progress is the domestic education and research programs growing to be competitive Western Europe, Australia, and the US," he expected. Chinese students thereafter would do as well in the country as going abroad, so there would be opportunities for China to excel with its own universities.

China, the US, and other parts of the world would be investing heavily in research and education, which is important to advancing the economy, human health, providing solutions to the challenges, both the global common ones and the local national ones.

"China has been increasing their related investment at a rate higher than the US but I think both countries will continue to be very competitive," he said.