Dear Individuals and Community Leaders,

The year 2023 saw signs of a warming in U.S. China relations. Several top U.S. officials, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Presidential Envoy John Kerry, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo paid cordial visits to China. The bipartisan U.S. Senate Delegation headed by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer led to amicable agreements to continue meeting. 

These hopeful developments culminated in the meeting between President Joe Biden, who has advocated for positive cultural interactions, and Chinese President Xi Jinping at the November Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit. This meeting produced an agreement to resume military-to-military communication to “reduce the risk of miscalculation,” as well as announcements of joint efforts to strengthen counter-narcotics cooperation and to combat climate change by raising renewable energy capacity. 

Heartened by these positive developments we, a committee of private citizens, wish to share what we have learned during a year-long examination of U.S.-China relations, and what we plan to do, on a people-to-people level, that will build a solid foundation of mutual trust between the peoples of the United States and China. This website has been the result of an ongoing discussion among our U.S.-China Mutual Trust Committee 中美互信組 and contributors for many months, and is intended to be a living repository of information going forward, ready to incorporate your many thoughtful responses, suggestions, and actions. Like you, we care deeply about the peoples in both countries, and yearn to do our small part, as private citizens on a people-to-people level, in contributing to our countries becoming respectful partners and allies in a world of harmony and peace. The need is urgent. 

And so we cordially invite you, as engaged individuals or community / cultural organizations, to join us in beginning, or augmenting what you have been already doing, to build U.S. – China relations at the people-to-people level right here in the Midwest. Standing on the shoulders of your many organizations who have already done so much laudatory pioneering work in promoting mutual understanding and courtesy between the U. S. and China, we now invite you to add building of mutual trust to your goals. 

Your support and suggestions are always welcome, and we pledge our sincere cooperation with everyone and all organizations ready to take action. We encourage you to select from our list of suggested activities, or expand and create your own that will be suitable for yourself or your organization. We invite you to keep in touch as we move forward, so that all of us may derive energy and encouragement from what each of us is doing. Documentation on what your organization has already accomplished is also welcome, and will be added to our list of case studies. We look forward to hearing from you very soon. Together, we will build mutual trust between the peoples of our two great countries. 

Respectfully, 
U.S. – China Mutual Trust Committee 中美互信組
Robert Scarlett
Larry Walker
Pearl Lam Bergad
Gail Henrickson