Tensions across the Taiwan Strait remain high as Beijing expresses its deepening commitment to reunification, Taiwan prepares for the upcoming presidential and legislative elections, and U.S.-China competition intensifies. A non-partisan civil society initiative established in 2005, Strait Talk regularly convenes conflict resolution dialogues for young civil society delegates from both sides of the Taiwan Strait and the United States to examine the sources of these tensions. Strait Talk also enables its participants to develop action plans for resolution and build relationships. Having organized dialogues across six locations inside and outside the United States, Strait Talk has developed an alumni network of over 1,000 people working in government, business, academia, and civil society. This panel will outline the vision, history, and method of Strait Talk dialogues and highlight the experiences of Strait Talk participants from both sides of the Strait. The panel will also examine Strait Talk's contribution to humanizing cross-Strait relations, in which high-level political discussions and security issues occupy much of the public's attention. The panel concludes with findings from the two decades of action research on the shifting nature of the dialogue participants' memories of cross-Strait relations.

Resources:

Website of Strait Talk-George Washington

T. Arai. 2023. Engaging Conflict History and Memory Across the Taiwan Strait: A Longitudinal Analysis of the Conflict Timelines from Interactive Conflict Resolution (ICR) Dialogues. Negotiation Journal 39 (1): 35-70.