REPORT: The Taiwan Strait Needs Calm
The Taiwan Strait Needs Calm, Communication, and Consistency
By Susan A. Thornton and Juliet Lee
July 2024
The National Committee on American Foreign Policy (NCAFP) held a Track II discussion on cross-Taiwan Strait relations in early June 2024. Scholars and experts from all sides assessed the state of relations following Lai Ching-te’s inauguration speech and the subsequent two-day PLA exercises conducted around Taiwan.
Despite the uncertainty of the next six months, participants from all sides put forward recommendations for managing cross-Strait relations in the current difficult political and media environments:
- Resuming cross-Strait dialogue is critical for creating space for de-escalation, and Beijing and Taipei should resume dialogue and cooperation between the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) and the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS) as soon as possible.
- Beijing and Taipei should restore cross-Strait tourism, promote cultural and artistic exchanges, and increase academic exchanges among scholars across the Taiwan Strait.
- As the U.S. presidential election approaches, American participants urged enhanced communication and predictability on all sides to prevent unintended crises. It is necessary to separate noise from signal and to preserve space for diplomacy.
Read the NCAFP’s latest conference report, “The Taiwan Strait Needs Calm, Communication, and Consistency,” to learn more about additional policy recommendations and observations from this Track II dialogue.