U.S. Peace Delegation Visits China
May 17, 2008
PDA Peace Envoy Bruce Taub joined a delegation of leading U.S. peace movement representatives from five independent organizations which traveled to China in April, 2008, to engage in dialog with Chinese leaders about the future of U.S.-China relations. The purpose of our trip was to listen, to learn, and to share. The U.S. Peace Movement knows little about the U.S. efforts at military and economic domination of Asia, and even less about China. Coincidentally, our trip took place from April 17-29, when tensions between China and the United States were heightened by impassioned demonstrations and reactions concerning Tibet, Darfur, the Olympic torch relay, and issues of human rights.
Our delegation was warmly welcomed, and we were able to see many different aspects of today’s China over the course of two weeks. We visited urban and rural China. We met with seven high-level officials of the ruling party, we engaged in discussions with scholars and researchers at 12 institutes and non-governmental organizations, and we toured ancient and contemporary sites.
We were pleased by our frank and wide-ranging discussions in China, and impressed by the complexities, contradictions and challenges inherent in our respective histories and cultures. We heard about what China’s “peaceful rise” meant to the various groups we met with, and how Chinese leaders perceive U.S. foreign and military policies in Asia. We talked about our cultures' differing definitions of human rights: the individual political and social rights highly advocated in the U.S. and the economic and social collective rights emphasized by China.
During our trip we gained a profound appreciation for China’s deep wish for a stable and harmonious society and for how much the Chinese need and want peace. Harmony, we were told, does not deny differences, but seeks to ensure they are resolved through peaceful means. We learned that, as China’s leaders strive to achieve their goal of improving the livelihood of 1.3 billion people, they are simultaneously cognizant of their new obligations as a developing world power. Given our countries’ substantial interdependence and competition, U.S.-Chinese relations will be a defining relationship of the 21st Century, with hope, one committed to diplomacy and the nonviolent resolution of those tensions and conflicts that shall inevitably arise between our nations.
Many U.S. players are already engaging in China—including government, business, academic, research, and non-governmental organizations. We ended our journey by seeking to identify what contributions can be made by the U.S. peace movement to our nations' evolving historic interrelationship. We are inspired by the belief that developing personal and organizational relationships and understanding will help identify areas where mutual cooperation may flourish. May we serve as loving and respectful critics of one another’s and our own nations.
U.S. Peace Delegation Participants (pictured):
American Friends Service Committee:
Kitty Hsu Dana — Associate General Secretary
Patricia DeBoer – Regional Director, Asia Program
Joseph Gerson – Director, New England Peace and Disarmament Program
Kyle Kajihiro – Director, Hawaii Program
Wu Na – Country Representative China/DPRK Program
Baltazar Pinguel – Director, Peacebuilding and Demilitarization Program
Friends Committee on National Legislation:
Joe Volk - Executive Secretary
Quaker United Nations Organization:
Andrew Tomlinson, Executive Director
Peace Action:
Kevin Martin – Executive Director
Angela Kelly – Coordinator, Massachusetts Peace Action
Progressive Democrats of America:
Bruce Taub – Peace Envoy; Chairperson, Olive Tree Democrats
Bruce Taub serves as the PDA Envoy for Peace. He is the chair of the Olive Tree Democrats, a focus group working within the End the Occupation, Redirect Funding Issue Organizing team. To learn more about or participate, write bruce@pdamerica.org.
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