ANNUAL REPORT 2001 NATIONAL COMMITTEE ON UNITED STATES- CHINA RELATIONS 35th Anniversary BOARD OF DIRECTORS * Chair Barber B. Conable, Jr.(1) Carla A. Hills(2) Vice Chairmen Lee H. Hamilton Robert A. Levinson Robert S. McNamara James R. Sasser Ezra F. Vogel Treasurer Robert A. Levinson Secretary Kathryn D. Christopherson Michael H. Armacost William E. Frenzel Thomas H. Kean Douglas H. Paal Nancy Kassebaum Baker Peter F. Geithner Geraldine S. Kunstadter Elizabeth J. Perry Julia Chang Bloch David R. Gergen David M. Lampton Joseph W. Prueher(5) W. Wayne Booker Sam Gibbons Nicholas R. Lardy J. Stapleton Roy(5) Andrew H. Card, Jr.(3) Thomas M. Gorrie(5) Kenneth Lieberthal(5) Matt Salmon(7) Gareth C. C. Chang Maurice R. Greenberg Henry Luce III H. Kerner Smith Elaine L. Chao(4) Herbert J. Hansell Elizabeth S. MacMillan David K. Y. Tang Thomas J. Christensen Jamie P. Horsley(5) Richard H. Matzke(5) Nancy Bernkopf Tucker Charles J. Conroy David E. Jeremiah D. Bruce McMahan Susan Roosevelt Weld Douglas N. Daft David A. Jones, Jr. Kathryn Mohrman I. Peter Wolff Gary Dirks Sidney R. Jones Douglas P. Murray William H. Yu(4) Gerald R. Ford John Thomas Kamm Kevin J. O’Brien Madeleine Zelin Barbara Hackman Franklin Virginia Kamsky Michel C. Oksenberg(6) Chairman Emeritus Raymond P. Shafer Directors Emeriti *Effective November 30, 2000 – December 6, 2001 Robert O. Anderson 5. Effective May 15, 2001 Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C. 1. Chairman to May 15, 2001, Director thereafter 6. Died February 2001 Robert A. Scalapino 2. Vice Chair to May 15, 2001, Chair thereafter 7. Effective January 2001 Carl F. Stover 3. Resigned December 2000 8. Died January 2001 Leonard Woodcock(8) 4. Resigned January 2001 NATIONAL COMMITTEE ON UNITED STATES- CHINA RELATIONS he National Committee on United States-China Relations T is a nonprofit educational organization that encourages understanding of China and the United States among citi- zens of both countries. The Committee focuses its exchange, educational and policy activities on international relations, economic development and management, governance and legal affairs, education administration, environmental and other global issues, and mass communication, addressing these issues with respect to the People’s Republic, Hong Kong SAR and Taiwan. The Committee’s programs draw strength from its members, who now num- ber nearly 700 Americans from all parts of the country and about 70 corporations and professional firms. They represent many viewpoints, but share the belief that produc- tive U.S.-China relations require ongoing public education, face-to-face contact and forthright exchange of ideas. 1 LETTER FROM THE CHAIR AND PRESIDENT his year marked the thirty-fifth had attended since the nightmarish terrorist anniversary of the National attacks three weeks earlier. It was an inspir- T Committee on United-States- ing evening—the moment of silence for the China Relations. How much has changed victims of 9/11; the words of sympathy since 1966! No longer confined to guard- from China’s premier Zhu Rongji conveyed ed diplomatic encounters in Geneva and by Ambassador Yang Jiechi; the acknowl- Warsaw, in 2001 the relationship between edgement of the contributions to the the United States and China involved September 11 relief fund and to U.S.-China nearly $130 billion of trade, over 900,000 relations by the honorees (AIG, AOL Time American visits to China and over 300,000 Warner, Coca-Cola, and J. P. Morgan Chinese visits to America, 60,000 Chinese Chase); the celebration of the Committee’s students at American educational institu- achievements; and the fellowship of people tions, and countless other sorts of interac- sharing both grief and a commitment to tion across fields as diverse as law, environ- the National Committee’s purpose. mental protection, health, education, the This purpose was expressed very well arts and entertainment. The United States that night by the dinner’s emcee (and board and Washington now collaborate through member) David Gergen, who said “The a great variety of government agencies, Committee’s continuing challenge will be and work together in dozens of interna- to address cutting-edge issues in the con- tional organizations, including the United stantly evolving and increasingly complex Nations (1971), where both are permanent relationship between the two countries— members of the Security Council, and the the issues that will have the most impact World Trade Organization (2001). on whether the United States and China The efforts of the National Committee can build a successful future through coop- in its first six years to inform and educate eration and understanding. [. .] In every- Americans about China in the midst of thing it does, the Committee will try to the Cold War—and an increasingly hot help Chinese and Americans reach beyond war in Southeast Asia—paved the way the headlines to understand how things for the Nixon-Mao/Kissinger-Chou really work, and what is of value to each rapprochement of 1972. In the words of the other. It will explore difficult issues through Committee’s first chairman Bob Scalapino, frank and mutually respectful dialogue.” “It is no exaggeration to assert that the The need for this understanding and National Committee played a major role in dialogue was highlighted by two events in enabling the issue of China to be viewed 2001. The first occurred April 1 off the in its full complexity, with policies exam- coast of China’s Hainan Island in the South ined with respect to American interests as China Sea, when a Chinese fighter collided well as those of the global community.” with an American EP-3 reconnaissance We celebrated the Committee’s first plane. The strained negotiations to secure thirty-five years at a gala dinner in New the release of the plane and its crew that 2 York City on October 2, 2001, the first took place over eleven days revealed the public event that many of the participants extent of the two countries’ mistrust and suspicion of each other. At the same time, fortunately, the event also highlighted for Beijing and Washington the strategic importance of their relationship, and led, IN APPRECIATION OF in the end, to a renewed commitment to bilateral dialogue. BARBER B. CONABLE,JR. The second event was, of course, the terrorist attacks on New York and Washing- ton on September 11. China’s president WHEREAS, Barber Conable has Jiang Zemin, who saw CNN’s coverage of served with great distinction as the attacks in real time, moved quickly to Chairman of the National Committee be among the first world leaders to extend on United States-China Relations from sympathy and support for the United States. 1992 until 2001; China quickly dispatched Vice Foreign WHEREAS, his astute leadership Minister Wang Yi to Pakistan to encourage and experience has greatly enhanced the President Musharraf to cooperate in the reputation and effectiveness of the war on terror, and began to share intelligence National Committee; with the United States in ways it had never WHEREAS, his warm and witty nature has enriched the done before. Once again, a crisis had Committee’s meetings and enlarged its circle of friends; underscored the strategic importance of WHEREAS, his consideration and thoughtfulness of the U.S.-China relations, and the need for the National Committee staff has greatly endeared him to them; two countries to work together. NOW THEREFORE, the members of the Board of In this report, you will read of the Directors of the National Committee on United States-China National Committee’s efforts in 2001 to Relations, with great affection, unanimously resolve to hold add new bridges of understanding between Barber Conable in our highest esteem. Americans and Chinese to those we have built in our first thirty-five years. As we December 7, 2001 look ahead to a future in which American and Chinese interests will be increasingly intertwined, it is clear that many more such bridges need to be built. Carla A. Hills Chair John L. Holden President 3 2001 EXCHANGES AND CONFERENCES or 35 years, the National The following report contains an Committee has been organizing overview of the exchanges, conferences F programs that encourage under- and other programs the National Com- standing of China and the United States mittee organized in 2001. We appreciate among citizens of both countries. In its all that our directors, members, funders earliest days, with virtually no contact and other colleagues contribute to mak- between the two countries, the National ing these programs possible. More infor- Committee relied on presentations to mation on these programs can be found policy leaders, academics and civic groups on our website at www.ncuscr.org and to disseminate information about China. in our newsletter, Notes from the National Six years after its founding, in 1972, the Committee. National Committee cosponsored the historic visit of the Chinese ping-pong INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS team to the United States, initiating the people-to-people exchanges that have Unforeseen circumstances punctuated become one of the Committee’s hallmarks. the course of Sino-American relations In 1984, the U.S.-China Dialogue, con- in 2001. In April, an American EP-3 vened by the National Committee and reconnaissance plane was hit by a Chinese the Chinese People’s Institute of Foreign fighter jet and made an emergency land- Affairs, began a process of non-official, ing on Hainan Island. That event, and “Track II” consultations and conferences subsequent weeks of diplomatic negotia- to assess core interests and continuing tions, highlighted the potential for problems in the bilateral relationship. conflict between the two countries and Domestic, bilateral and international the mistrust that continues to cloud their circumstances have changed dramatically interaction. To their credit, both govern- in the past three and a half decades, yet ments took steps to right the relationship we continue to rely on the fundamental through a number of high-level consulta- elements of the early, ground-breaking tions, culminating in a visit by President initiatives to inform public opinion and Bush to Shanghai in October.