For three weeks this July, 22 university students from China and the United States traveled together from Washington, D.C., and Montana in the U.S. to China's Yunnan Province and Beijing. By the time they parted, strangers had become friends.

This was the Across the Pacific: China-U.S. Youth Dialogue for a Shared Future, co-hosted by the China International Communications Group Center for the Americas, the publisher of Beijing Review, and the U.S.-based International Student Conferences, a student-led international exchange organization.

It was not a diplomatic summit. There were no grand declarations. Instead, the program offered young people something important: face-to-face time to listen, learn and see beyond stereotypes.

The initiative aligns with the consensus reached by Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump at their Beijing summit in May. The two heads of state agreed on a new vision of building a constructive bilateral relationship of strategic stability. Xi defined the nature of "constructive strategic stability" as a positive stability with cooperation as the mainstay, a sound stability with moderate competition, a constant stability with manageable differences, and an enduring stability with promises of peace. He called for expanding exchange and cooperation in areas ranging from trade to tourism and people-to-people ties.

Yet misunderstandings persist, fueled by one-sided narratives and digital echo chambers. This journey demonstrated that young people are uniquely equipped to break down those barriers. American students witnessed rural development in Yunnan, where local communities have blended ecological protection with sustainable agriculture. Chinese students gained insights into Indigenous land conservation in Montana and community development in the U.S.

Of course, 20 days cannot erase all misconceptions, and 22 students cannot represent all youth. But they can plant seeds. The topics they explored, including climate change, sustainable agriculture and technology for good, are challenges facing all of humanity. On these, there is common ground.

The program has ended, but it is not a finish line. It is a starting point. If more people on both sides follow these young people's example, embracing rationality, inclusiveness and a spirit of win-win cooperation, the foundations of China-U.S. relations will steadily grow stronger.