President Obama’s commitment in Shanghai to “dramatically expand” the number of American students studying in China to 100,000 will take place over a period of four years, according to a U.S.-China Joint Statement issued in Beijing on Tuesday:

“The two countries noted the importance of people-to-people and cultural exchanges in fostering closer U.S.-China bilateral relations and therefore agreed in principle to establish a new bilateral mechanism to facilitate these exchanges. The two sides are pleased to note the continued increase in the number of students studying in each other’s country in recent years.