The Chinese government since 1979 has been very successful in economic development, and successful enough, simply by surviving, in the realm of political development.

Taiwan is a major economy.

Harvard is first and foremost a university and not a consulting operation, and our job here is to teach and to research and to create knowledge on Asia in conjunction and in cooperation with scholars as well as with political, intellectual, and cultural leaders in Asia.

I don't believe that economic and cultural interaction automatically brings greater peace and understanding, although it may help in that regard.

The greater concerns in China and Taiwan are on the political side, not on the economic side.

The most important thing that certainly the United States and other Asian and Pacific actors have done is to urge that whatever happens, however the dispute is resolved, that it be resolved peacefully.

Now, I believe that war is never inevitable until it starts, but there has been a great proclivity in human history, and including in recent history, for war.