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At the end of the day, there is no handbook for the evolving US–China relationship. But the stakes are much too high for us to fail.
—United States Secretary of State Hilary Clinton [1]
A 2012 joint survey of international relations scholars at universities in the United States and global policymakers in the US government revealed some sharp disagreements between these two groups with respect to the priority rankings of the top foreign policy problems facing the US in the next decade and beyond [2]. Whereas the academics prioritized global climate change and the collapse of the euro, the US policymakers highlighted international terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction [2]. Both groups, however, were in agreement that the rising power of China represents the single most formidable problem facing the US [2]. Similar sentiments were echoed by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who began a key November 2011 foreign policy document entitled “America's Pacific Century" with the following statement: “The future of politics will be decided in Asia, not Afghanistan or Iraq, and the United States will be right at the center of the action" [1]. Her statement also highlights China's special role in American foreign policy and the urgency for the US and China “to work together to ensure strong, sustained, and balanced future global growth" [1].
The global control and elimination of the world's neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) represent exciting and substantive opportunities to enhance and expand Sino–US relations. For the reasons highlighted below, the NTDs may also provide a useful framework for science diplomacy between the US and China in the coming decade.
Published in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases.
