Vice Minister of Education Chen Jie led a delegation to the US from Sept. 21–25.

During his visit, Chen met with Cindy Marten, US Deputy Secretary of Education. He also met with Scott Weinhold, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the US Department of State, and other US government officials.

Chen noted the important consensus on promoting people-to-people and cultural exchange reached by the heads of states of China and the US at their summit in San Francisco in November 2023. He said that Sino-US educational exchange has achieved positive results in recent years, especially since the beginning of 2024, with a substantial increase in communication and cooperation in various fields.

The two sides held in-depth discussions and reached agreements on topics such as establishing a normalized intergovernmental dialogue mechanism; jointly promoting implementation of the “50,000 in Five Years” Initiative (a plan to invite 50,000 young Americans to China on exchange and study programs over a five-year period); deepening partnerships in higher education; expanding cooperation in basic education; and focusing on collaboration related to students’ mental and physical health.

Chen also attended the 2024 Forum of Sino-US University Presidents, which was held in Chicago. He also visited the School of the Art Institute of Chicago; held meetings with educational officials, school principals and university presidents from education institutions in the Washington, D.C. area. In addition, he met with local Chinese scholars, Chinese language teachers, and Chinese student representatives.