Strait Talk

Strait Talk is a non-profit corporation that facilitates conflict resolution dialogue among university students on the Taiwan Strait issue. It is the only known program focused on promoting political dialogue between young people across the Taiwan Strait. The organization works with students to convene week-long Symposia on university campuses, bringing together five students from each of the three communities: mainland China, Taiwan, and the United States (or Hong Kong in Strait Talk Hong Kong). The fifteen student delegates take part in a private workshop facilitated by an expert mediator, based on the Interactive Conflict Resolution method. At the end of the week, the delegates present their Consensus Recommendation to the host university community and publish it for wider circulation. The organizing committee also holds a series of public lectures and panels on the cross-Strait relationship. Past speakers include: James Lilley, former US Ambassador to China, Richard Bush, former Chairman of the American Institute in Taiwan, and Douglas H. Paal, former Director of the American Institute in Taiwan.

The program was founded by Johnny Lin at Brown University in 2005, and has been held at Brown every November. A new chapter at University of California, Berkeley held its first Symposium in March, 2009. In April 2011 Strait Talk witnessed the opening of its new branch in Greater China: 2011 1st Strait Talk Hong Kong.