Northeast Asia Projects

Comments on the NCAFP Track II Project on U.S.-China-Taiwan Relations

"I commend you for the thoughtfulness and sophistication of the analysis that you generated at the Committee's Roundtable. Your report makes a valuable and timely contribution, particularly given the recent visit of Chinese Vice Premier Qian Qichen. The NCAFP continues to be held in high esteem in the international affairs community. We look forward to your continuing efforts to illuminate these difficult and important issues."

The Honorable Colin L. Powell
Former U.S. Secretary of State

"The National Committee on American Foreign Policy is very renowned in Chinese diplomatic circles. It does useful work in promoting U.S.-China relations. The Chinese side attaches great importance to your visits."

His Excellency Tang Jiaxuan
State Councilor, People's Republic of China
Former Foreign Minister of the People's Republic of China

"The NCAFP program is the best Track II effort that exists in contributing to stability in the Taiwan Strait and I hope it will continue in the future. I specifically recall the April 2000 visit of an NCAFP group when I was president-elect, and one month after that visit when I gave my inaugural address, I put forward views on the Cross-Strait situation that were influenced by your visit. I also recall the wonderful discussion I had with the NCAFP and other groups during a transit stop to the United States in May 2001. Finally let me say that the timing of the latest visit (April 2002) is very important, especially since it has come after the December 2001 elections in Taiwan in which the DPP emerged as the largest party in the legislature and it coincides with the visit to the United States of PRC Vice-President Hu Jintao."

His Excellency Chen Shui-bian
President, Republic of China

More comments on the NCAFP Track II...

"On behalf of…Secretary [of State Condoleeza Rice] thanks for forwarding the report on the [January 2005] visit to Beijing and Taiwan by members of the National Committee on American Foreign Policy. …The perspectives reviewed in your report were very helpful and have been studied carefully by the Department. I appreciate you sharing your observations and welcome other reports from the Committee on foreign policy topics of interest."

Joseph Donovan
Director, Office of Chinese and Mongolian Affairs
U.S. Department of State

"It was thoughtful of you to send me an inscribed copy of Breaking the China-Taiwan Impasse, which you edited. It offers a timely and important perspective on a complex relationship that is of great interest to the U.S., and I read it with much interest. Thank you for bringing it to my attention."

The Honorable Henry A. Kissinger
Former U.S. Secretary of State

"During four decades of service in and out of government, including as President of the Council on Foreign Relations, I have shaped, steered, and taken part in countless conferences, roundtables, and study groups. The NCAFP Roundtable is one of a handful of the very best."

The Honorable Winston Lord
Former Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and PacificAffairs
Former U.S. Ambassador to China
Regular NCAFP Roundtable Participant

"Your insightful book [Breaking the China-Taiwan Impasse] provides an in-depth analysis of the multi-aspects of cross-strait relations and opens up many avenues for further thought and reflection. . . . We are particularly grateful to your esteemed institution for its invaluable contribution to the stability and security of the Asia-Pacific region through study and research of issues related to cross-strait relations."

Chiou I-Jen
Secretary General, Republic of China

"The persistent, well-informed efforts by you and your highly-qualified group have built trust in all three capitals. The access and insights that you develop as a result are invaluable as we all pursue peace in the Taiwan Strait."

James F. Moriarty
Special Assistant to the President and
Senior Adviser on Asian Affairs, National Security Council

"Taiwan is a key and difficult issue in U.S. diplomacy with the PRC, an issue to which I have been devoting considerable attention. I have therefore found especially helpful the opportunities to meet with various NCAFP delegations over the past year.... The NCAFP has produced a series of helpful reports on its Cross-Strait program, including a recent interim report 'Cross-Strait Relations: Breaking the Impasse,' which has many useful insights. Your inputs and insights are about the most balanced and useful that we see."

The Honorable Joseph W. Prueher
Former US. Ambassador to China

"Many thanks for sharing the excellent report on your [January 2005] trip [to Beijing and Taipei]. You and the NCAFP have done a valuable service in giving the reader a sense of where the two sides seem to be in an ever changing context, as well as your analysis of their positions and what might happen. Yesterday's [2/23/05] joint Chen-Soong declaration out of Taipei did not come as a complete surprise for those who read the report."

Peter F. Geithner
Adviser, Asia Center, Harvard University

"I believe that the NCAFP has performed a very valuable service on the work in Cross-Strait relations which you ably coordinate. I read carefully all of the trip and roundtable reports.... I find that they provide valuable insights on views in the Mainland and on Taiwan and on possibilities for renewing dialogue between the two sides. Participants from both Taiwan and the Mainland have told me that your roundtable meetings provide them with unique opportunities to interact and informally exchange views. In the absence of any official channel between the two sides, this opportunity for Track Two contact is especially important."

Raymond Burghardt
Former Director, American Institute in Taiwan

"I want to thank you very much for giving me a copy of Breaking the China-Taiwan Impasse. . . . it is easily the best book of its kind that I have encountered lately. You have collected all of the people whose views are interesting and relevant and have added a valuable set of appendices for students and scholars. Please let me congratulate you not only on the book but for pulling together the useful conferences that preceded its publication."

Dr. George R. Packard
President, U.S.-Japan Foundation

"Thank you for sending along Donald Zagoria's good work on Cross-Strait Relations. Thank you even more for sponsoring it. In its effort to identify consensus within the United States and its stress on the need for nonmilitary methods of stabilizing and improving the situation, it is a very helpful contribution. I benefited from reading it."

The Honorable Richard Danzig
Former Secretary of the Navy

"The NCAFP Roundtable continues to serve a very important function in the complicated Cross-Strait issue. Thursday's meeting was a good example. First of all, this program has a significant stature that you were able to get Ma Ying-jeou to come 11,000 miles for lunch. Also, I was impressed by the quality of the discussion among the Americans throughout the day.... More generally, I think the Roundtable will continue to be a useful resource as we move into a new situation, with a new Administration in Washington, new politics in Taipei, and succession looming in Beijing.... I know that the Chen government and other forces on Taiwan respect your efforts.... The NCAFP can help encourage a more nuanced PRC understanding of Taiwan's intentions which, I believe, remains an essential ingredient of any future forward movement.... Thank you again for including me in recent meetings. I have benefited greatly and preparing my own contributions has helped sharpen my thinking on these complex issues."

Richard C. Bush
Former Managing Director, American Institute in Taiwan

"[Breaking the China-Taiwan Impasse], the contributions of American, Taiwanese, and Chinese foreign-policy experts to a series of roundtables sponsored by the National Committee on American Foreign Policy, provides broad perspectives and substantive details on the difficult triangular relationship. . . . [T]he contributors demonstrate that civility is possible even in debates that arouse intense nationalistic passions."

Lucian W. Pye
Foreign Affairs Review, March/April 2004