Introducing the Committee of 100

The Committee of 100 (C100) was formed in June 1989 by a group of Chinese-Americans, many of them leading figures, to start a dialogue on how to save US-China relations. Fifty to sixty people assembled at the studio of I.M. Pei to devise a strategy. Six key people outlined the principles and goals of the organization. Henry S. Tang was one of them.

 According to Mr. Tang, the founders worried about the public reaction to the creation of C100.  “It was not a party they were joining.  They were joining together to creatively do something about a serious global issue. In order to promote positive US China relations, we even adopted a motto, “qiu tong qun yi” which means seeking common ground while respecting differences. Over the last twenty years, our focus has changed to China’s economic engagement with the world”. 

 The C100 was one of the first organizations to engage in cross-strait dialogue by meeting with top leaders from both China and Taiwan, and it has maintained that role for the last 20 years.  This dialogue has in turn allowed C100 to help American leaders formulate foreign policy on invitation.