Can you be both Chinese and Taiwanese? Does identity grant you a right to a nation? These are the major issues surrounding the third annual Strait Talk Symposium, now called the Dialogue Project, a week-long conference that concludes today.
The conference, named for the 100-mile Taiwan Strait that separates China and Taiwan, has facilitated dialogue about U.S.-China relations among academics, students and diplomacy experts since 2005. This year, organizers included another key global conflict, Indian-Pakistani relations, in the discussion.
In addition to hosting accomplished academics and diplomacy experts, the student-run event steering committee selects five student delegates from each of the respective countries to attend Strait Talk. Under the guidance of internationally-renowned conflict resolution specialist Tatsushi Arai, the 15 delegates meet for four to eight hours every day during the week-long event to discuss the conflict in a safe space, "letting both sides share very privately and intimately what they feel, and ultimately finding a compromise," said Matthew Reichel '09, head coordinator of the Dialogue Project.
Strait Talk looks to break long-standing cultural antagonisms by bringing "the next generation to the table," said Maha Atal '08, program coordinator of the Round Table Conference. "The way to develop solutions vertically is by establishing cross-cultural connections," said Atal, a Herald opinions columnist.
Each conference produces a written compilation, or "Final Consensus Recommendation," of the delegates' discussions. The report, which will soon be made available on Dialogue Project's Web site, is intended to "build a consensus that everyone is happy about," said Strait Talk founder Johnny Lin '08. But this consensus does not mean overall agreement, Reichel said. The document is a way to "highlight similarities, points of contention and practical goals," he added.
Lin founded Strait Talk his sophomore year after a summer spent lobbying in Washington, D.C. Lin said he was concerned that "even in an enlightened political circle, people are entrenched in their political beliefs without understanding what is going on."
Lin said the conference uses young people to help motivate policymakers. "We are building relationships between Brown students and the delegates who come here," Lin said. "This is one of the most contentious issues in the world today, where dialogue can really make a huge difference."
"The primary goal of the program is to get around the political deadlock and make an entrance into the debate by working with counterparts in China," he added.
Tensions elevated this year when Taiwanese president Chen Shui-bien started a campaign to win United Nations membership using the name Taiwan rather than its official title of the Republic of China, an ambitious move after 60 years of entrenched political beliefs.
But the consensus at Wednesday's Strait Talk panel, "Dialogue or Deadlock: Power Transitions in Washington, Beijing and Taipei," indicated that high tensions are not necessarily spurring action.
Even with major elections just around the corner for both the U.S. and Taipei, "policy analysts are sensing a period of entrenchment with all sides clinging ever more tightly to their views," said panelist Alan Wachman, an associate professor at Tufts University's Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.
"The mainland policy is 'No independence, no war.' Unless either side makes ridiculous moves, things will remain as is," Reichel told The Herald.
This year, the Dialogue Project brought to campus U.S. International Trade Commissioner Irving Williamson, India's youngest Member of Parliament Sachin Pilot, Foreign Affairs Assistant Editor Basharat Peer, Director of the China Initiative at the University of California at Berkeley Thomas Gold and Jing-dong Yuan, director of the East Asian Non-Proliferation Program at the Monterey Institute for International Studies.
"The turnout was incredible," Atal said.
Despite three consecutive years of successful dialogue, Strait Talk still receives little University support.
"So far it has been completely student-run, which has been quite successful, but also a source of many challenges. It would be great for the University to step up," Lin said.
Because the University encourages student groups to find faculty advisors, the Dialogue Project has had limited access to certain resources due to the lack of faculty doing political science research in relevant regions.
"We want to be engaged with Brown, not just use Brown to do our own thing," Atal said.
Students like Atal are not the only ones who are passionate about the program. At Wednesday's panel Lin said "one of the speakers almost forgot to pick up his kids until his wife called because he was so excited about the event."
Brown should be proud of the work students have done to establish these cross-cultural connections through the conference, Lin said.
These connections are particularly important as China emerges as a leading global power. "For the United States, thinking about the issue of China is one of the most paramount issues that we as students and scholars need to think about as well," Lin said. "In some subtle way, we're hoping that this will create a shift in thinking."
