2016年8月18日，第七輪中美人文交流高層磋商機制配套活動——中美青年創客大賽在北京完美收官。在世界形勢紛亂、南海問題激化的背景下，創客大賽猶如一股清流，為中美兩國青年提供了交流和分享智慧的平台，凸顯了青年互動在人文交流中的重要性。

青年，主要指1980年至1995年出生的人群，被美國人稱為“Y一代”或者“千禧一代”。隨着老齡化愈發嚴重，亞太各國的Y一代開始在各行業嶄露頭角。如美國的扎克伯格、中國的馬化騰等，他們藉助信息化的浪潮，通過創業創新等獲得了巨大的成功，晉陞為青年精英，擁有了更大的發言權。同時，Y一代思想更加自由，也會積極尋求表達個人主張的渠道。他們通過互粉、刷朋友圈、熱搜或Anti等方式在Facebook、Twitter、微博及微信等社交網站平台表達自己的觀點。此外，Y一代思維開闊，兼容並包，更加理性與客觀。2015年皮尤調查報告發現，美國18-29歲的青年對中國的好感度高達55%，而50歲以上的人群則只有27%，中國方面亦是如此。

鑒此，亞太國家加強青年交流勢在必行。但是，作為一個複雜的區域，亞太地區國家和人口眾多，雙邊青年的交流並不能滿足多邊合作與互動的需求。因此，中美及東盟等應着力構建多邊交流框架，培育我們共同的朋友圈，促進亞太青年的互動與互粉，使其成為國家互贊而非互黑的主要動力。

第一，中美及東盟等可推動建立多邊青年領袖峰會機制，促進亞太青年精英的交流。目前，中美青年政治家交流項目、中方的“三個一萬”和美國的“十萬強”項目等都已成為中美高端人才交流的重要支柱。東盟方面，2013年奧巴馬總統提出青年東盟領導人倡議（YSEALI）,2016年2月美國－東盟峰會上，奧巴馬再次提出要佔領青年陣地。而中國與東盟之間的青年人文論壇、教育交流周、“世界青年文明論壇•中馬青年儒回交流峰會”等項目也已取得較多成效。但是以上交流機制多屬雙邊，與當前亞太地區多邊互動的現實不符。因此，中美兩國可推動在東亞峰會框架內建立一個多邊青年領袖峰會機制，開展亞太青年政治家的交流活動。同時，可建立一個青年學者圓桌會議作為配套活動，集合亞太各國的青年學者定期舉行專題論壇，加強政策上的溝通。

第二，中美可通過“一帶一路”、TPP以及RCEP等地區性發展戰略為亞太青年企業家和學者提供互動的載體。在亞太地區，國家之間、領域之間的協調性和包容性發展戰略離不開青年企業家以及青年學者的參與。尤其是“一帶一路”戰略牽涉到經濟領域的方方面面，具有開拓及創新精神的青年企業家必定會成為戰略實施的具體參與方。中美可在地區發展戰略框架內開展青年企業家交流活動，加強亞太各國企業精英的交流與溝通。

第三，中美可通過實施青年普遍關心的非傳統安全項目建立共識、共享理念。Y一代成長於信息爆炸時代，注重多元觀點的溝通交流。相對於傳統安全問題，Y一代更加關注環保、信息安全以及金融安全等非傳統安全問題。上個世紀90年代環保領域的國際合作就是中日青年交流的新模式，以環保為主題的交流活動使兩國青年及民眾增加了互信和好感。中美以及東盟等可加以參考，開展多邊專題交流活動，藉助具體項目的實施培養青年合作精神，建立對彼此的理性認知。

第四，中美可加快實施多式多樣的青年學生交流項目，發揚傳承青年交流經驗。當前，Y一代已經成為社會主力，95後出生的Z一代也即將成年步入社會。2010年後出生的“α一代”則將成為完全的“技術一代”，他們將更多地接受關於現代科技的全球觀念。中美與東盟各國之間Y－Y交流的成果和經驗需要通過Y➡Z以及Z➡α之間的傳承推動Z-Z和α-α之間的交流。通過建立多國校際聯盟為青年學生提供一個國際交流的平台以及代際傳承的紐帶，拉長亞太國家青年交流的長度，拓展人文交流的寬度。

總之，青年將成為中美以及同東盟等亞太各國加強人文交流的突破口。中美兩國應緊抓未來25年的發展契機，推動亞太青年朋友圈的發展與壯大，促進國家之間的互粉與互贊。

On Aug 18, the China-US Young Maker Competition, an event supportive of the 7th High-Level Consultation on People-to-People Exchanges, was successfully concluded in Beijing. Against the backdrop of a chaotic world situation and acute disagreements over the South China Sea, the competition offered a platform for young Chinese and Americans to exchange and share their wisdom, highlighting the significance of interaction among young people in cultural exchanges.

The young people, mainly those born between 1980 and 1995, are called the Millennial Generation or Generation Y. As population aging deepens, Generation Y in all Asia Pacific countries have started to show their talents in various industries. Riding the waves of information technology, people like the American Mark Zuckerberg and China's Pony Ma have been hugely successful in entrepreneurship and innovation. These people have become young elites and gained a greater say in society. At the same time, Generation Y enjoys freer thinking and actively seeks channels of individual expressions. By following each other on social media, widely disseminating WeChat Moments, pursuing top trending searches and being anti-everything, they express views at social media sites or through apps including Facebook, Twitter, Weibo and WeChat. Generation Y is also more open-minded, inclusive, rational and objective. According to the 2015 Pew Research Center survey report, Americans ages 18-29 are more than twice as likely as those ages 50 or older to have a favorable opinion of China (55% vs. 27%). The same difference across age groups also exists in Chinese attitudes toward the US

Under such a circumstance, Asia Pacific countries must strengthen exchanges among their young people. But in this complex region of numerous countries and peoples, bilateral youth exchanges are not sufficient to satisfy the needs for multilateral cooperation and interaction. In this connection, China, the US and ASEAN should make efforts to develop multilateral exchange frameworks, cultivate common friends circles, and promote interaction and mutual following among their young people so that they will learn to praise rather than deprecate each other.

First, China, the US and ASEAN may promote the establishment of a multilateral young leaders' summit to facilitate exchanges among young elites. Now exchanges between Chinese and American young political leaders, China's Bridge Scholarships and America's 100 000 Strong initiative are all important pillars of exchanges between high-end talents. In 2013, President Obama put forward the Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative (YSEALI). At the US-ASEAN summit in February 2016, Obama stressed the importance of youth exchanges again. Between China and ASEAN, such projects as Youth Cultural Exchange Forum, Education Exchange Week and China-Malaysia youth exchange summit on Confucianism and Islam are already very productive. However, these mechanisms are mostly bilateral, short of supporting multilateral interaction in Asia Pacific. In view of this, China and the US may consider pushing for the creation of a multilateral young leaders' summit mechanism within the framework of the East Asian Summit for exchanges among young political leaders in the Asia Pacific. A young scholars' roundtable mechanism can also be created to support the summit. The roundtable may help convene young scholars in Asia Pacific countries for themed discussions and policy communications.

Second, regional development strategies such as the Belt and Road Initiative, TPP and RCEP may serve as vehicles of interaction for young entrepreneurs and scholars. In the Asia Pacific region, strategies for coordinated and inclusive development across countries and in different areas must involve the participation of young entrepreneurs and scholars. The Belt and Road Initiative, in particular, involves many different aspects of economy. Young entrepreneurs with a pioneering and innovative spirit will definitely become implementers of the strategy. China and the US may develop exchanges among young entrepreneurs within the strategic frameworks of regional development to enhance their exchanges and communication.

Third, China and the US may develop common understanding and a concept of sharing through non-traditional security projects. Generation Y has grown up in an age of information explosion and attaches importance to communication of multiple perspectives. They pay greater attention of non-traditional security issues such as environmental protection, information security and financial security. The international cooperation in environmental protection in the 1990s represented a new model of youth exchanges between China and Japan, which increase mutual trust and favorable opinions between the young people and even general public in both countries. China, the US and ASEAN may take that as an example, develop multilateral exchanges of various themes and implement specific projects to cultivate a cooperation spirit and rational perceptions among young people.

Fourth, China and the US may build on lessons learned and speed up the implementation of various young student-exchange projects. Generation Y is now already the main force of the society. Generation Z, born in 1995 and later, is coming of age. Generation α, born in 2010 and later, will completely become a generation of technology. They will accept more global views on modern science and technology. The results and experiences of exchanges among Generation Y in China, the US and ASEAN must be carried forward from Y to Z and from Z to α, thus facilitating exchanges among Generation Z and among Generation α. A multi-country inter-school alliance may be developed as an international exchange program and inter-generational linkage so as to expand the width of cultural exchanges and extend the length of young people exchanges.

In short, youth will be the breakthrough factor for strengthened people-to-people exchanges between China, the US, ASEAN and other Asia Pacific countries. China and the US should seize the development opportunity in the coming 25 years to expand and strengthen young people's friend circles in the Asia Pacific, thus enhancing mutual understanding among countries.