Event Summary
On April 3-4, policymakers, academic experts, and former government
officials gathered at Stanford University to
propose and discuss specific policies and programs for a renewed U.S.
engagement with China. The conference, entitled "The Content of U.S.
Engagement with China," was sponsored by the Stanford-Harvard Preventive
Defense Project.
While some Americans have concluded that the United States and China are
destined for competition and conflict, U.S. policy has rejected a strategy
of containment and instead has embraced engagement. Engagement, however, is
a tool, not an objective of policy. The conference proceeded with the
recognition that engagement must have as its content a focused, proactive
program of policy initiatives and practical activities designed to shape the U.S.-Chinese security relationship to mutual benefit.
The discussions at Stanford led to the development of prescriptions for
engagement that the project''s co-directors, former Secretary of Defense
William Perry and former Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Policy Ashton Carter, will discuss in an upcoming report. There
were panels devoted to discussing specific issues, such as regional
security and the U.S. presence; Taiwan; proliferation and Chinese arms
sales; engaging the People''s Liberation Army; and balancing security,
economic, and political objectives. *