The 2026 Jimmy Carter Forum

The 2026 Jimmy Carter Forum on U.S.-China Relations will be convened at The Carter Center in Atlanta, Georgia on January 29-30, 2026.

The Jimmy Carter Forum on U.S.-China Relations brings together former diplomats, academics, and other experts to share ideas on how the U.S.-China relationship can remain intact under current geopolitical and trade tensions. Hosted alternatively between China and the United States, this platform has fostered open communication since 2012.

The theme of the forum will be on women in U.S.-China relations.

The 2026 forum will focus on women in U.S.-China relations. Sarah Beran, a former senior U.S. diplomat in China, will open this year’s proceedings on January 29 with reflections on her time in China, the impact gender has had on her own career, and broader observations about women in diplomacy in both Washington, D.C., and Beijing.

Our program will continue on January 30 with a morning roundtable discussion about the role of women in U.S.-China relations from the 1970s to the present. Our guests will include experts from the first generation to officially travel to China at the start of normalization to those who have only established their careers in the last decade. 

In the afternoon, panelists will explore topics of gender and public opinion on foreign policy and shared experiences of gender discrimination in American and Chinese society.