PDP Hosts 8th Track II Strategic Security Dialogue between U.S. and Chinese defense, diplomatic, military, and academic leaders in Honolulu

Press Release

September 2006

U.S.-China Strategic Security Dialogue Participants: front row (left to right): Brant Shalikashvili, General John Shalikashvili, Mrs. Eikenberry; 2nd row (left to right): Admiral William Fallon, Deborah Gordon, Lee Perry, William Perry, Ambassador Qin Huasun, Yue Xiaoyong, Lu Dehong, Mei; 3rd row (left to right): Mrs. Fallon, Jennifer Bulkeley, Jan Berris, Huang Jiashu, Zhang Yu; 4th row (left to right): Evan Medeiros, Chen Zhiya, Stephen Orlins, Mrs. Shalikashvili, Col. Yao Yunzhu, Zhang Tuosheng, Cai Wei; 5th row (left to right): Martinez, Mrs. Prueher, Admiral Joseph Prueher, Ash Carter, Cui Liru, Tsu, Wang Jisi, Huang Renwei; 6th row (left to right): Ambassador Robert Blackwill, David Lampton, Jeff Randall, Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall, Ambassador Michael Armacost, Tom O'Gara

Honolulu, Hawaii – From September 28 to 30, 2006, PDP Co-Directors Ashton B. Carter and William J. Perry led a U.S. delegation to Honolulu in collaboration with the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations (NCUSCR) and the China Foundation for International and Strategic Studies (CFISS).

The annual trip represented the eighth Track II strategic security dialogue between defense, diplomatic, military, and academic leaders in China and the United States.  Track II discussions allow experts an opportunity to speak candidly and off-the-record about issues often deemed too controversial to be discussed in official Track I bilateral discussions.  This non-governmental dialogue plays an important role in confidence-building between the two countries, and was identified by former Chinese President Jiang Zemin as "the Track II" given its importance to U.S.-China relations.

Over the past five years, the Track II process has made substantial contributions to diffusing tensions and increasing understanding between leaders in the United States and China.  When U.S.-China governmental relations were strained in 2001, the PDP-led Track II dialogue facilitated discussion of the EP-3 incident and bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade.  At this workshop, American delegates provided oral explanations as well as theoretical literature on crisis management, emphasizing its importance and suggesting ways that China might improve its crisis management capabilities.  The Track II workshop eventually led to a new U.S.-China collaborative study of crisis management procedures.  After clearing its plans with the USG, the American delegation met with Jiang Zemin in 2002 and suggested the idea of China freezing its deployment of missiles aimed at Taiwan in return for U.S. restraint on missile defense in the region. President Jiang subsequently brought the idea to President Bush at his ranch in Crawford, Texas, where the two discussed it and decided to pursue talks to define it further.  Progress on this idea was interrupted by the Iraq War. 

As the 2004 elections were heating up in Taiwan and China-Taiwan relations were becoming tense in 2004, the Taiwanese representative to the cross-Strait talks, Koo Chen-fu died.   The cross-Strait talks between Koo and Wang Daohan were the only direct talks between Taiwan and the mainland, and they had been put on ice.  PDP representatives were in China at the time, holding our Track Two dialogue, and we suggested that China send a delegation to Koo’s funeral as a gesture of good will, respect, and desire to recommence cross-Strait talks. The Chinese agreed, and the visit did much to smooth a dangerous time.

Left to right: Wang Jisi, Liz Sherwood-Randall, Admiral Joseph Prueher, Stephen Orlins

At the 2006 Track II dialogue, Carter and Perry were joined by former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General John Shalikashvili, former Ambassador to China and CINCPAC Joseph Prueher, former Ambassador Michael Armacost, former Ambassador Robert Blackwill, President of NCUSCR Steve Orlins, Vice President of NCUSCR Jan Berris, Director of the China Studies Program at the Nitze School of Advanced International Studies David Lampton, PDP Senior Advisor Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall, RAND political scientist Evan Medeiros, President of the Center for Strategic and International Studies Pacific Forum Ralph Cossa, Chairman and Founder of H&Q Asia Pacific Hsu Ta-Lin, Chairman of the O’Gara Company Tom O’Gara, and PDP Associate Director Deborah Gordon.

The group met with China’s former Ambassador to the United Nations Qin Huasun, CFISS Secretary General Chen Zhiya, and other distinguished delegates from China’s Foreign Ministry, the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences (SASS), China’s Institute of Contemporary International Relations (CICIR), Renming University, Beijing University’s School of International Studies, China’s State Council, and CFISS.

After Dr. William J. Perry and Ambassador Qin Huasun opened the conference, the first  session on “Strategic Considerations” in the U.S.-China military relationship allowed delegates from the United States and China to share their concerns regarding one another’s military modernization and security strategies. When Chinese delegates asked what they could do to satisfy American requests for greater transparency and enhanced military-to-military contacts, American participants provided concrete examples and suggestions.  Participants from both countries also proposed specific mechanisms for improving dialogue between the two militaries, and discussed strategies for reducing uncertainty in the U.S.-China security relationship.

In the second session on “U.S.-China-Japan-Northeast Asia Security Issues,” participants addressed the future of the Six Party Talks, the existing security architecture in Northeast Asia, the current state of American alliances in the region, the effect of regional crises on U.S.-China relations, and the impact of Chinese nationalism and the tension between China and Japan on the rest of the region.

The group enjoyed dinner and musical accompaniment at the Pearl Harbor Naval Station, where Admiral Fallon, U.S. Pacific Commander, hosted the delegates.

 In the final session on “U.S.-China Relations (including Taiwan),” delegates addressed the current state of U.S.-China relations in the context of other domestic and international challenges facing both countries. Although Chinese and American participants acknowledged that they held different perspectives on many of the challenges facing the world today, they agreed on the need for further cooperation between the two countries on functional issues such as energy, public health, the environment, and international property rights.

Left to right: Chen Zhiya, Ash Carter, Cai Wei, Jan Berris

The Perrys, John and Brant Shalikashvili, and Liz Sherwood-Randall

Left to right: Ambassador Robert Blackwill, Stephen Orlins, and Ambassador Michael Armacost

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