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The National Committee on American Foreign Policy has been running track II projects for over
fifteen years, beginning with our efforts to end the conflict in Northern Ireland. For the past decade, we have worked on Northeast Asia security issues, which have resulted in three ongoing track II projects – one on U.S.-China relations with a particular emphasis on the Taiwan issue, a second on the North Korea nuclear challenge, and a third on the future of the U.S. alliances with Japan and South Korea. We have also established a Track II dialogue to address issues confronting the Central Asia/Caspian Sea Basin region.
The National Committee's Track II efforts are distinctive due to their bipartisan nature. For example, at our March 2007 meeting with Vice Minister Kim Kye-gwan from the DPRK, we had two former Secretaries of State – Dr. Henry A. Kissinger and Dr. Madeleine Albright – plus key congressional staffers from both Republican and Democratic parties. Similarly, our cross-Strait dialogues include participants from both the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) as well as the Kuomintang (KMT). We recognize that progress cannot be achieved without the participation of all concerned parties, factions, and voices.
Though it is difficult to quantifiably gauge “success rates” in Track II dialogues, we believe that there are concrete examples which attest to the merits of our efforts. The following are a few of our notable highlights.
On cross-Strait relations:
In the spring of 2000, following the first election of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) pro-independence leader Chen Shui-bian as president of Taiwan but before his inauguration, then-deputy assistant secretary of defense Kurt Campbell encouraged us to visit both Taiwan and China. In Taiwan, our role was to encourage prudence on the part of the newly elected President Chen. In the People’s Republic of China (PRC), we cautioned against any reckless response. The NCAFP, along with other track II organizations, followed this course in both capitals. Subsequently, President Chen gave the NCAFP credit for helping him to formulate the “four no’s”, which were, in effect, a pledge not to declare formal, de jure independence. The PRC, for its part, later came to adjust its strategy in dealing with Taiwan from one largely of threats and “sticks,” to one of trying to win the “hearts and minds” of the Taiwan people.
On the North Korean Nuclear Problem:
According to both U.S. and North Korean officials, our summer 2005 conference in New York played a “decisive” role in the resumption of the Six-Party Talks in the fall of 2005 and in the agreement of Joint Principles reached at that meeting.
Furthermore, our conference in March 2006 played an equally important role in paving the way for a compromise on the financial sanctions previously imposed on the North Koreans by the U.S. It also helped lay the groundwork for the turnaround in Bush Administration policy on North Korea that scholar Leon Sigal traces to October 2006.
On the Northern Ireland Peace Initiative:
In the words of Dr. Henry Kissinger, “If it could happen in Ireland, with the history of Ireland and the distrust, I’d like to think it could happen anywhere.” The National Committee on American Foreign Policy has been committed to bringing peace to Northern Ireland since 1994 and was instrumental in helping the peace process along.
One of the project’s defining moments, and greatest accomplishments, was our success in securing a 48 hour visa for Gerry Adams, head of Sinn Fein and reputedly a former chief of the IRA. Working with the U.S. State Department, and, when that failed, working behind the scenes with Senator Edward Kennedy, Ambassador Jean Kennedy Smith, Tony Lake, President Clinton’s national security adviser, and Lake’s deputy, Nancy Soderberg, we were able to obtain a visa for Mr. Adams to attend an NCAFP conference in New York. This laid the foundation for subsequent meetings between all concerned parties which led, after fourteen long years of work, to the historic power-sharing agreement reached on May 8, 2007.
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