In 1966, a remarkable group of people decided to take on the challenge of shaping American policy toward China into one that was in the best long term interest of this country and of educating Americans about China, anticipating the time when the door between these two countries would reopen. The National Committee on U.S.-China Relations grew out of their vision and incorporated their principles of education, not advocacy; representation of diverse views and all facets of American society among its membership; and outreach to government officials, opinion makers and the general public.

While we take pride in our long history, it’s no longer sufficient for us to say that we are the oldest American organization dedicated to productive U.S.-China relations. Our organization needs to take fresh approaches to addressing critical and emerging issues in the relationship. We need to invest in the next generation of American and Chinese leaders, by creating meaningful opportunities for outstanding American and Chinese young professionals and students to interact with one another. All this keeps us true to our founders’ goal, of helping Americans gain a deeper and more nuanced understanding of China.

As an important component of this mission, we have re-launched our website. Though still a work-in-progress, it is our hope that the new site better showcases the creative ways in which we have been meeting our challenges.

I encourage you to spend some time on the site, and see our new and enhanced features. However you navigate through the site – you can browse by subject area or by goal – you’ll see that the Committee is accomplishing a great deal. We are taking American political leaders to China for a firsthand look at the dramatic changes taking place there. We are bringing American and Chinese specialists together for direct discussion of cross-Strait tensions, HIV/AIDS awareness, labor law and other sensitive topics. We are convening on one evening a thousand people, in 35 different cities, to interact with a Washington insider via the Web. We are placing American students in Chinese homes, and Chinese students in American homes. We are taking delegations away from the major cities to places that are more reflective of typical life in China and the United States. Our programs are giving participants opportunities to share professional expertise and insights, debate, argue, laugh and, we hope, find some common ground in their very different sets of personal experience.

In addition, the site highlights future public events, as well as those from its recent past, provides easier access to our resources, and helps explain who we are and what we do. The site also allows for you to sign up for our upcoming electronic newsletter or make an online donation. (Click on "Subscribe" or "Donate," respectively, on the upper right corner of any page.)

We hope that you enjoy the new site, and we look forward to receiving your feedback (send to feedback@ncuscr.org) so that we can continue to improve it.

Stephen A. Orlins, President