National Committee on United States–China Relations

The National Committee on United States China Relations (NCUSCR) is a nonprofit organization and advisory body founded in 1966 to encourage understanding and cooperation between the United States and China. Since 1966, the committee has conducted exchanges, educational, and policy activities in the 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 on United States–China Relations
Formation1966
Type501(c)3 organization
13-2566973
PurposeTo promote United States-China relations
Headquarters6 E. 43 Street, 24th Floor, Manhattan
Location
Membership
By invitation
President
Stephen Orlins
Vice President
Jan Berris
Websitewww.ncuscr.org

The committee's membership consists of American citizens, corporations, and professional firms representing many viewpoints, but share the belief that productive U.S.-China relations require ongoing public education, face-to-face contact, and exchange of ideas.

History

20th century

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. [1] The founders included figures in the China field such as Robert A. Scalapino, A. Doak Barnett, Alexander Eckstein, and Lucian Pye. Their aim was to build a network from a broad political spectrum, committed to fostering open discussion and to improving U.S. policy toward China.

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. [2]

Several presidents had wanted to move closer to normalization of relations with China but faced resistance in Congress.[3] 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.[4]

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.

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.[5] 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.[6]

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, including U.S. Supreme Court justice Anthony Kennedy, and exchanges and programs on banking and economic policy, journalism, NGO and foundation development, human rights, and public health.

21st century

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.

Board of directors

Vice chairs

Treasurer
  • Keith W. Abell

Secretary
  • I. Peter Wolff

Members

Former chairs

Notes
  1. MangMang (1976), p. 5-7.
  2. MangMang (1976), p. 8-9.
  3. Kissinger, Henry (2011). On China. London: Penguin Press. pp. 198–199, 203. ISBN 978-0143121312.
  4. Kissinger, Henry (2011). On China. London: Penguin Press. p. 232. ISBN 978-0143121312.
  5. Crean, Jeffrey (2021). "A New Sphere of Influence: Table Tennis Diplomacy and the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations". Journal of American-East Asian Relations. 28 (2): 109–132. doi:10.1163/18765610-28020003. S2CID 237860408.
  6. Wheeler (2012).
  7. "Board of Directors". NCUSCR. Retrieved 2023-03-19.

Illustrative publications
  • Michel Oksenberg, Academy of Political Science (U.S.) and National Committee on United States–China Relations. China's Developmental Experience. (New York: Academy of Political Science, Proceedings of the Academy of Political Science 31.1, 1973).
  • Perkins, Dwight (2020). Perkins, Dwight (ed.). Rural Small-Scale Industry in the People's Republic of China. Berkeley, CA. doi:10.1525/9780520314719. ISBN 978-0-520-31471-9. OCLC 1229160797.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  • Scalapino, R. A. (1967). An annotated guide to modern China. New York: National Committee on United States–China Relations.

References and further reading
  • Barnett, A. D., & Reischauer, E. O. (1970). The United States and China: The next decade. New York: Praeger.
  • "National Committee on United States-China Relations." Berkshire Encyclopedia of China, Volume 3, Great Barrington, MA. Berkshire Publishing Group, 2009. (p. 1548-1555)
  • Berris, Jan Carol (1986). "The Evolution of Sino-American Relations: A view from the National Committee" (PDF). In Kallgren D. F. Simon, J. K. (ed.). Educational Exchanges: Essays on the Sino-American Experience. Berkeley: University of California Institute of East Asian Studies. pp. 80–92.
  • Bullock, Mary Brown (2005), "Mission Accomplished: The Influence of the CSCCRP", in Li, Cheng (ed.), Bridging Minds Across the Pacific: US-China Educational Exchanges, 1978-2003, pp. 49–68


  • Cohen, Warren. (1986). While China faced east: Chinese-American cultural relations. In J. K. Kallgren & D. F. Simon (Eds.), Educational exchanges: Essays on the Sino-American experience (p. 49). Berkeley: University of California, Institute of East Asian Studies.
  • Harding, H. (1992). A fragile relationship: The United States and China since 1972. Washington, DC: The Brookings Institution.
  • Kallgren, J. K. (1986). Public interest and private interest in Sino–American exchanges: De Toqueville's "Associations" in action. In J. K. Kallgren & D. F. Simon (Eds.), Educational exchanges: Essays on the Sino-American experience (p. 65). Berkeley: University of California, Institute of East Asian Studies.
  • Lampton, David M.; Madancy, Joyce A.; Williams, Kristen M. (1986). A Relationship Restored: Trends in U.S.-China Educational Exchanges, 1978-1984. Washington, D.C: National Academy Press. ISBN 030903678X.
  • Madsen, R. (1995). China and the American dream: A moral inquiry. Berkeley: University of California Press.
  • Magliocco, M. T. (2008). Unsung Alchemists: The National Committee on United States–China Relations and the Path to Sino–American Rapprochement, 1949–1972. Yale College Senior Essay.
  • Mang, Robert; Mang, Pamela (1976), A History of the Origins of the National Committee on United States–China Relations (PDF), Unpublished report. Prepared at the request of the Christopher Reynolds Foundation
  • National Committee on U.S.-China Relations. U.S.-China Teachers Exchange Program. (n.d). Retrieved February 23, 2009 from http://www.ncuscr.org/programs/tep
  • Wheeler, Norton (2012), The Role of American NGOs in China's Modernization: Invited Influence, Asia's Transformations, New York: Routledge, ISBN 9780415506571 Chapter Two, "The National Committee on United States-China Relations."
Library resources about
National Committee on United States–China Relations

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