From July 30 to August 6, the American Foreign Policy Council (AFPC) organized a senior-level American delegation to China led by three former Under Secretaries of State, the Hon. Paula Dobriansky, Amb. Richard McCormack, and Dr. William Schneider. The delegation also included former Pentagon Inspector General Joseph Schmitz, AFPC President Herman Pirchner, Jr., AFPC Director of Asian Security Programs Jeff M. Smith, and AFPC Special Programs Coordinator Elizabeth Wood.
While in China the delegation met separately with China’s four top foreign policy officials (State Councilor, Foreign Minister, Taiwan Affairs Minister, and International Liaison Minister) as well as experts at institutions affiliated with different ministries. This afforded the delegation the opportunity discuss the vital bi-lateral and multi-lateral national security issues facing the U.S. and the PRC.
The group then traveled to the Province of Hainan Island, home to Chinese space and submarine facilities as well as the administrative center for Chinese ventures in the contentious South China Sea. In light of the recent ruling against China by an international arbitration tribunal, discussions of territorial claims in the South China Sea were very lively.
In Hainan, discussions were held at the National Institute for South China Sea Studies, led by Dr. Wu Shicun, the Institute’s founder and president, and his team of nearly one dozen Chinese maritime security experts. Dr. Wu is also responsible for establishing China’s first think tank in Washington, D.C., the Institute for China-America Studies (ICAS), in 2015.
