The Northern Ireland Peace Initiative
Under the leadership of then-Chairman William J. Flynn, the NCAFP directly contributed to the peace process in Northern Ireland. As the first Irish-American chairman of the NCAFP, Flynn was instrumental in persuading President Clinton to grant a 48-hour visa for Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams to attend a ground-breaking cross-border conference with John Hume and John Alderdice hosted by the NCAFP in 1994. The NCAFP committed itself to providing an ongoing forum for the parties to resolve what the organization maintained were not intractable but soluble problems.
The Committee fulfilled that commitment despite several shattered ceasefires and protracted and seemingly fruitless negotiations: the Northern Ireland Peace Initiative culminated in the Good Friday Agreement in 1998 and the establishment of the first power-sharing government in the North.
The NCAFP maintains an active portfolio of programming in Northern Ireland, and continues to convene political leaders from the region to tackle the most pressing challenges in the post-Brexit landscape.
Most recently, the organization celebrated the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement at its daytime conference, “Looking Back and Moving Forward.” On this occasion, the NCAFP hosted Northern Ireland’s party leaders and grassroots peacebuilders for a day of political discussions.
More recently, the NCAFP launched its Northern Ireland Emerging Leaders program, a multi-year project to highlight the analysis and policy recommendations of ten next-generation policy practitioners and scholars who will provide new thinking and insight on the future of peace and stability in Northern Ireland.
On Cross-Taiwan Strait Relations
The NCAFP’s Forum on Asia-Pacific Security began its work on cross-Taiwan Strait relations under the leadership of Professor Donald S. Zagoria over two decades ago with traditional shuttle diplomacy between Taipei and Beijing.
In the Spring of 2000, cross-Strait relations were under threat of war following Taiwan’s election of President Chen Shui-bian. At the urging of senior State Department officials, the NCAFP was encouraged to visit Taiwan and caution President Chen against any reckless statements that would deteriorate a fragile situation. After visits to both capitals, President Chen gave the NCAFP credit for helping him formulate the ‘Four No’s,’ which were, in effect, a pledge not to declare de jure independence.
The NCAFP also provided a forum for then-Mayor of Taipei City, President Ma Ying-jeou, to give a presentation at a cross-Taiwan Strait Track II conference that became the basis of the “1992 Consensus,” a formulation of cross-Strait relations that has allowed both sides to deepen cooperation during the Ma Administration.
The NCAFP’s “shuttle diplomacy” and cross-Strait work continues today and was maintained during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the current environment of strained relations, it remains the only consistent channel of Track II communication among participants from the three sides and is relied upon to check signalling and correct misperceptions, increasingly crucial in the absence of official discourse and high U.S.-China tensions. The fact that peace has been maintained across the Taiwan Strait for the last 30 years indicates that efforts made, including through this Track II channel, to reassure all sides and maintain restraints, has been working and must continue.
Today, the NCAFP fosters next-gen specialists who bring new perspectives to cross-Taiwan Strait issues. This dedicated virtual working group is committed to preserving paths of communication that have been already carved from the important NCAFP Track II work.
Fostering Next-Gen Leadership
Our work has a long legacy of providing a much needed platform for dialogue in times of global tension. The Emerging Leaders programs creates an opportunity for the next generation of policy and change-makers in the U.S. and around the world to bring fresh policy perspectives to foreign policy.
Today, the NCAFP hosts three distinct Emerging Leaders programs that address an array of critical topics that shape our world: Korean Peninsula Specialists; Northern Ireland Emerging Leaders; and Next-Generation Cross-Taiwan Strait Specialists.
The Six-Party Talks
In 2003, the NCAFP began hosting regular Track 1.5 dialogues with delegations from the DPRK’s Foreign Ministry. According to both U.S. and North Korean officials, the NCAFP’s summer 2005 U.S.-DPRK Track 1.5 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 the Joint Principles reached at that meeting.
The NCAFP consults with the U.S. Department of State on appropriate timing for issuing temporary visas to visiting DPRK delegations and has hosted delegations from the DPRK in New York several times over the course of a decade. The last NCAFP Track II was in March 2012 following the Leap Day Agreement. Although continued efforts to engage the DPRK have proved elusive, the NCAFP continues to hold discussions with relevant parties on a way forward on denuclearization and a permanent peace arrangement on the Korean Peninsula.
In addition, our Korean Specialists program provides professional development support and mentorship opportunities for rising scholars focused on issues related to Korean Peninsula security studies.
For more information about the NCAFP’s ongoing work on Asia-Pacific security issues, please visit our Track II program page.