National Committee on United States–China Relations


The National Committee on United States China Relations is a nonprofit organization and advisory body founded in 1966. It encourages understanding and cooperation between the United States and China.

Mission

Since 1966, the National Committee has been the leading American nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to promoting mutual trust and collaboration between the United States and China. The National Committee conducts exchanges, as well as educational and policy activities in areas of politics and security, education, governance and civil society, economic cooperation, media and transnational issues, addressing these topics with respect to Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. National Committee exchanges and conferences bring together leaders in multiple fields from both sides of the Pacific, and promote forthright dialogue, engagement, and decision-making across a range of disciplines.
The Committee's membership consists of American citizens, corporations and professional firms. They represent many viewpoints, but share the belief that productive U.S.-China relations require ongoing public education, face-to-face contact and forthright exchange of ideas.

Activities

The National Committee promotes mutual understanding and constructive relations through programs in four primary categories:
Informing policy makers and thought leaders through exchanges that enable elected officials, government leaders, and senior military personnel to meet, develop working relationships, and discuss critical issues. Activities include:
Fostering Dialogue on cutting edge issues to promote frank exchanges among experts and policy leaders. Track II dialogue topics include:
Next generation programs to develop the capacity of future leaders from the United States and China. Initiatives include:
Public Education: Facilitating the exchange of ideas through public outreach and educational exchanges, including:

Origins of the National Committee

The National Committee on United States–China Relations was founded in 1966 by a coalition of academic, civic, religious, and business leaders. The founders included leading figures in the China field such as Robert A. Scalapino, A. Doak Barnett, Alexander Eckstein, Lucian Pye, and Cecil Thomas, who became its first executive director. Their aim was to build a network of accomplished individuals from a broad political spectrum, committed to fostering open discussion and to improving U.S. policy toward China. The Committee's express mission was to educate the U.S. public, but it soon found itself in the position to offer information and advice to President Lyndon B. Johnson and other political leaders. In 1972, it co-hosted the Chinese table tennis team's tour of the United States, a widely publicized event that captured world attention. The historic two-way exchange by American and Chinese table tennis teams became known as Ping Pong Diplomacy.
The National Committee was founded in the wake of two groundbreaking conferences: the “Institute on China Today” held at University of California-Berkeley in 1964, and the “National Conference on the United States and China” in Washington, D.C. in 1965. Together, they gave a platform to leaders from many sectors to advocate for the reshaping of the U.S. approach towards China.  At the time, U.S. presidents wanted to move closer to normalization of relations with China but faced resistance in Congress. By privately advising Johnson in 1968 and Nixon in 1970, members of the National Committee played a vital role in the move towards normalization of relations.

1970s to the 1990s

During the years leading up to the 1979 normalization of relations, the National Committee encouraged thoughtful discussion about China policy among Americans and encouraged direct dialogue between American and Chinese people. The National Committee became the principal organization conducting public policy and other exchanges between China and the United States during the years leading up to the Reform and Opening and the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1979.
In the 1980s, the Committee expanded its work to promote sustained interactions between influential Chinese and Americans in governance, media, urban planning, international relations, and economic management. During the 1990s, the Committee expanded into rule of law, legislative affairs and the expansion of civil society in China. Programs included mayoral and municipal leader exchanges, judicial training and exchanges of senior jurists, and exchanges and programs on banking and economic policy, journalism, NGO and foundation development, human rights, and public health.

From 2000 to the present

In the 2000s, the National Committee expanded its range with new public education programs, study tours to introduce Chinese consular officers to American society, and in-depth briefings and trips to China for senior U.S. military officers. The National Committee also developed a 2005 program on community planning for HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment; a groundbreaking  visit to the United States by the chairman of the China Foundation for Human Rights Development; a program to help the reform of labor law in China; and a 2009 Land Use and Public Participation Program that addressed rights and ownership issues, among other initiatives.

Leadership

The National Committee includes Americans from around the country, as well as corporations and professional firms. Members of the Committee and its board of directors include a number of distinguished citizens: former secretaries of state Madeleine K. Albright, Henry A. Kissinger, and Condoleezza Rice and other former Cabinet secretaries; all of the former American ambassadors to China; leading scholars of the past several decades such as Jerome A. Cohen, Harry Harding, David Lampton, Nicholas Lardy, Kenneth Lieberthal, Susan Shirk, and Ezra Vogel; and Maurice R. Greenberg and many other corporate executives interested in China. The National Committee's current President is Stephen A. Orlins.
The National Committee has long benefited from the experience and expertise of its staff leadership. President Stephen A. Orlins speaks Mandarin fluently and was a member of the State Department team that created the legal framework for the establishment of formal relations in 1979. He has also served as president of Lehman Brothers Asia and as managing director of Carlyle Asia.  Vice president Jan Berris has been with the National Committee since 1971 and has led hundreds of delegations between the United States and China, including the Chinese table tennis team's 1972 tour. The current chairperson of the Committee is The Honorable Carla Hills, former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and U.S. Trade Representative.

Board of directors