History
The National Committee on United States–China Relations was founded in 1966 by a coalition of academic "China watchers," civic, religious, and business leaders who were concerned with China's isolation and American apparent interest in maintaining that situation. Cecil Thomas, a Secretary of the American Friends Service Committee, was influential in recruiting and organizing them, and became the organization's first executive director.
The committee was energized by helping to organize 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 debate the reshaping of the approach towards China. There was heated disagreement among even the scholars, but figures such as Henry Luce and American businessmen argued against defenders of the policy. There was widespread interest from newspapers, television, and the general public.
Several presidents had wanted to move closer to normalization of relations with China but faced resistance in Congress. [3] In 1971, the committee hosted a roundtable featuring guest speakers from countries that had begun exchanges with China in advance of official diplomatic relations. [4] : 36 Members of the committee expressed the view that like these countries, Americans could develop ad hoc cooperative relations with China. [4] : 36–37 The committee's mission was to educate the 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. [5]
The Committee originally had intended to be only a "catalyst" in opening relations with China, a short-term temporary goal. But a change in this attitude came when it was called upon to manage the visit of the Chinese table-tennis team, part of American ping-pong diplomacy. Because there were no official diplomatic relations between the two countries, the State Department had to rely on private resources. The Committee stepped in, raised money, and made arrangements. This experience changed the committee's relations with American and Chinese officials, as well as its own goals. [6] 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.
On 15 November 2023, the National Committee on United States–China Relations and the US-China Business Council hosted a banquet with Xi Jinping for US business executives during the APEC United States 2023 meeting. [8] [9] The banquet drew questions from media about attendees and criticism from the United States House Select Committee on Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party. [10] [11] [12]
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), has full diplomatic relations with 180 out of the other 192 United Nations member states, Cook Islands, Niue and the State of Palestine. As of 2024, China has had the most diplomatic missions of any state.
One China is a phrase describing the relationship between the People's Republic of China (PRC) based on Mainland China, and the Republic of China (ROC) based on the Taiwan Area. "One China" asserts that there is only one de jure Chinese nation despite the de facto division between the two rival governments in the aftermath of the Chinese Civil War. The term may refer, in alphabetical order, to one of the following:
The relationship between the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the United States of America (USA) has been complex and at times tense since the establishment of the PRC and the retreat of the government of the Republic of China to Taiwan in 1949. Since the normalization of relations in the 1970s, the US–China relationship has been marked by numerous perennial disputes including the political status of Taiwan, territorial disputes in the South China Sea, and more recently the treatment of Uyghurs in Xinjiang. They have significant economic ties and are significantly intertwined, yet they also have a global hegemonic great power rivalry. As of 2024, China and the United States are the world's second-largest and largest economies by nominal GDP, as well as the largest and second-largest economies by GDP (PPP) respectively. Collectively, they account for 44.2% of the global nominal GDP, and 34.7% of global PPP-adjusted GDP.
The Foreign Affairs Commission of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, commonly called the Central Foreign Affairs Commission, is a commission of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) that exercises general oversight on matters related to foreign affairs.
Ping-pong diplomacy refers to the exchange of table tennis (ping-pong) players between the United States and the People's Republic of China in the early 1970s. Considered a turning point in relations between the United States and the People's Republic of China, it began during the 1971 World Table Tennis Championships in Nagoya, Japan, as a result of an encounter between players Glenn Cowan and Zhuang Zedong. These interactions sparked diplomatic breakthrough, by signaling that both sides were willing to interact and engage in dialogue. The exchange and its promotion helped people in each country to recognize the humanity in the people of the other country, and it paved the way for President Richard Nixon's visit to Beijing in 1972 and the Shanghai Communiqué. The Shanghai Communiqué was a pivotal diplomatic document issued on February 28, 1972, during President Richard Nixon's visit to China. It marked a significant shift in U.S.-China relations, as both countries acknowledged their differences while committing to improving their relationship, ultimately setting the stage for détente between the two nations.
David M. Lampton is the George and Sadie Hyman Professor and director of China studies emeritus at the Johns Hopkins University's Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) and former chairman of The Asia Foundation.
Xi Jinping is a Chinese politician who has been the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), and thus the paramount leader of China, since 2012. Xi has been serving as the 7th and current president of China since 2013. As a member of the fifth generation of Chinese leadership, Xi is the first CCP general secretary born after the establishment of the People's Republic of China (PRC).
Chinese–United Kingdom relations, more commonly known as British–Chinese relations, Anglo-Chinese relations and Sino-British relations, are the interstate relations between China and the United Kingdom.
The history of the People's Republic of China details the history of mainland China since 1 October 1949, when CCP chairman Mao Zedong proclaimed the People's Republic of China (PRC) from atop Tiananmen, after a near complete victory (1949) by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in the Chinese Civil War. The PRC is the most recent political entity to govern mainland China, preceded by the Republic of China and thousands of years of monarchical dynasties. The paramount leaders have been Mao Zedong (1949–1976); Hua Guofeng (1976–1978); Deng Xiaoping (1978–1989); Jiang Zemin (1989–2002); Hu Jintao (2002–2012); and Xi Jinping.
Yang Jiechi is a Chinese senior diplomat and retired politician. He served as director of the Chinese Communist Party's Central Foreign Affairs Commission from 2013 and 2022, State Councilor from 2013 to 2018, Minister of Foreign Affairs of China from 2007 to 2013.
Robert Anthony Scalapino was an American political scientist and East Asia specialist. He was a co-founder and inaugural chairman of the National Committee on United States–China Relations. Together with his co-author Chong-Sik Lee, he won the 1974 Woodrow Wilson Foundation Award for the best book on government, politics, or international affairs from the American Political Science Association. Scalapino's daughters include the artist Diane Sophia and poet Leslie Scalapino (1944–2010).
The United States–China Economic and Security Review Commission is an independent commission of the United States government legislative branch. It was established on October 30, 2000, through the Floyd D. Spence National Defense Authorization Act.
Sino-Latin America relations are relations between China — which is by defined as either the People's Republic of China or the Republic of China — and the countries of Latin America. Such relations have become increasingly important between the region and Latin America.
Paul Thomas Haenle is an American analyst and China specialist currently serving as Maurice R. Greenberg Director’s Chair at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
The National Security Commission is a commission of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) responsible for national security work and coordination.
Cheng Li is a Chinese-American scholar specializing in Chinese elite politics and contemporary Chinese society; he served as the director of the John L. Thornton China Center at the Brookings Institution from 2014 to 2023, replacing Kenneth Lieberthal in the role. He is currently professor of political science and founding director of the Centre on Contemporary China and the World (CCCW) at the University of Hong Kong. Li is a prominent authority on Chinese politics, specifically leadership dynamics and the changes in leaders over generations.
Community of common destiny for mankind, officially translated as community with a shared future for mankind or human community with a shared future, is a political slogan used by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to describe a stated foreign-policy goal of the People's Republic of China. The phrase was first used by former CCP General Secretary Hu Jintao and has been frequently cited by current General Secretary Xi Jinping. As the term's usage in English has increased, "shared future" has become more frequently used than "common destiny," as the latter arguably implies a predetermined path. The phrase was included in the CCP Constitution in 1997, and the preamble of the Constitution of the People's Republic of China when the Constitution was amended in 2018.
The People's Republic of China emerged as a great power and one of the three big players in the tri-polar geopolitics (PRC-US-USSR) during the Cold War, after the Korean War in 1950-1953 and the Sino-Soviet split in the 1960s, with its status as a recognized nuclear weapons state in 1960s. Currently, China has one of the world's largest populations, second largest GDP (nominal) and the largest economy in the world by PPP.
The foreign policy of Xi Jinping concerns the policies of the People's Republic of China's Xi Jinping with respect to other nations. Xi became the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party in 2012 and became the President of the People's Republic of China in 2013.
Gregory J. Moore is an American political scientist specializing in international relations, international security and Chinese politics and foreign policy. He teaches international politics and policy at Patrick Henry College in Purcellville, Virginia. He was previously a Stanton Fellow at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, CO. Prior to that he was a professor of global studies and politics at Colorado Christian University, and taught political science and international relations at universities in China such as Zhejiang University and University of Nottingham Ningbo for roughly a decade.
