Perry meets with members of the Kinmen (Quemoy) Defense Command in Taiwan.
Photo Credit: Deborah Gordon

PDP Co-Directors Lead U.S. Delegation to Taiwan & PRC for Strategic Security Discussions

Press Release

July 1, 2008

Belfer Center Programs or Projects: Preventive Defense Project

Beijing, China -- From June 22 to July 1, 2008, PDP Co-Directors William J. Perry and Ashton B. Carter led a bipartisan civilian/military delegation to Taipei and Beijing to discuss Cross-Strait issues, regional security concerns, and the U.S.-China strategic relationship. The meetings were planned in coordination with the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations, the Taiwan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the China Foundation for International and Strategic Studies (CFISS).

The timing of the 2008 visit was particularly fortuitous, as the PDP delegation visited Asia just as Taiwan and mainland China ended their first formal talks in nearly a decade. Taiwan's President Ma Ying-jeou took office on May 20, after campaigning on pledges to bolster Taiwan's economy through stronger trade and transit ties with mainland China. Taiwan and Beijing held their first direct bilateral discussions just days before the PDP delegation arrived, in which both sides agreed to take important steps to improve relations across the Strait.

All parties acknowledged an historic - but limited - window of opportunity to make meaningful progress toward a more peaceful, stable, and lasting arrangement between Taipei and Beijing.

In its meetings with officials in Taipei and Beijing, the U.S. delegation encouraged leaders on both sides to seize this opportunity for progress. While many challenges remain, the American delegation worked with its counterparts on both sides of the Strait to identify additional steps all parties might take to further improve regional stability.

The group met with Taiwan's top leaders, including President Ma Ying-jeou, Vice President Vincent Siew, National Security Council Secretary General Su Chi, Defense Minister Chen Chao-min, Foreign Minister Francisco Ou, Chairperson of the Mainland Affairs Council Lai Shin-yuan, KMT Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung, and DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen. They also met with key Chinese officials at the Central Military Commission, including General Xu Caihou, Major General Chen Xiaogong, and Lieutenant General Ma Xiaotian, as well as President of the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS) Mr. Chen Yunlin, and Lt. General Liu Chengjun at the Academy of Military Science (AMS).

_{PDP Co-Director William Perry meets with the President of Taiwan, Ma Ying-jeou. (Photo Credit: Deborah Gordon)}

The PDP delegation continued the discussion of Cross-Strait affairs with mainland Chinese colleagues during a two day workshop held at the Diaoyutai Chinese State Guesthouse in Beijing. This was the ninth meeting of the Track II dialogue, bringing together defense, diplomatic, military, and academic leaders from the United States and China to discuss critical issues in the U.S.-China relationship. This non-governmental dialogue plays an important role in confidence-building between the two countries, as these off-the-record discussions offer participants an opportunity to speak candidly about issues often deemed too controversial to be discussed in official Track I bilateral discussions. Former Chinese President Jiang Zemin called PDP's Strategic Security Issues Workshop "the Track II" dialogue, given its continued success in promoting U.S.-China relations.

_{PDP Co-Directors Perry and Carter meet with Lt. General Lu Sheau-jung, Commanding General, Kinmen Defense Command on Quemoy Island. (Photo Credit: Deborah Gordon)}

In the first session, participants considered the Taiwan issue in U.S.-China relations, discussing recent improvements in Cross-Strait relations and possible opportunities for future progress. The second session examined regional security issues, including the continued nonproliferation challenges posed by North Korea and Iran. In the third session, participants identified opportunities for Sino-U.S. cooperation on a variety of security issues, with special attention paid to developments in environmental protection and energy policies.

_{PDP Co-Director Ashton Carter and Ambassador Wang Yingfan (former Assistant Minister and Vice Minister of China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and former PRC Ambassador to the United Nations) discuss regional security challenges in the second session of the Track II meeting in Beijing. (Photo Credit: Deborah Gordon)}

At the workshops conclusion, participants from the United States and China agreed that this year's meeting was the most productive to date, and returned to their home institutions to promote opportunities for further cooperation in both the Cross-Strait and U.S.-China relationships.

Members of the 2008 PDP delegation included: Secretary William J. Perry, Admiral Joseph Prueher, Ambassador Robert Blackwill, Dr. Ashton B. Carter, Stephen A. Orlins, Hsu Ta-lin, Dr. David Lampton, Dr. Kurt Campbell, Dr. Ashley Tellis, Dr. Evan Medeiros, Jan Berris, Deborah Gordon, and Jennifer Bulkeley.

_{Perry meets with Xu Caihou, vice-chairman of China's Central Military Commission. (Photo Credit: Deborah Gordon)}

Background on PDP Track II Discussions with Taiwan and the People's Republic of China (PRC):

Over the past decade, 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.

The full trip report is available below:

For more information about this publication please contact the PDP Associate Director at 617-495-1412.

For Academic Citation:
"PDP Co-Directors Lead U.S. Delegation to Taiwan & PRC for Strategic Security Discussions.", July 1, 2008.