Progress in Making Peace Across the Taiwan Strait: An American Perspective

The Pacific Basin Institute presents a talk by Raymond Burghardt on prospects for overcoming political and security issues that China and the U.S. still have not tackled.

Avery Lecture by Ambassador Raymond Burghardt

For 60 years the Taiwan Strait has been one of the most worrisome potential flashpoints in Asia, the one place where conflict between the U.S. and China has always been possible. Ray Burghardt is one of America's leading experts on the Taiwan issue. In his role as Chairman of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) he has served since 2006 as the U.S. Government's chief Washington-based envoy to Taiwan. He played a similar role 1999-2001 as Director of the Taipei office of AIT, the de facto U.S. ambassador to Taiwan. Burghardt will discuss the remarkable progress that has been made in reducing tension between Taipei and Beijing since the inauguration of Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou in May 2008, including the first direct air, sea and mail links since 1949. He will offer his views on prospects for overcoming the more difficult political and security issues that the two sides still have not tackled and will explain the Obama Administration's policy toward these developments.