Committee of 100 (United States)

The Committee of 100 is a 501(c)(3) organization of prominent Chinese Americans in business, government, academia and the arts whose stated aim is "to encourage constructive relations between the peoples of the United States and Greater China." It was founded in 1990 by I. M. Pei.

Its current chair is Gary Locke, former U.S. Ambassador to China, the 36th Secretary of Commerce, and former Governor of Washington State (1997–2005).

History

The organization focuses on issues of importance to the Chinese American community and China-United States relations.^{: 337–338} The committee was started with the encouragement of Henry Kissinger. The committee aims to serve as cultural ambassadors and to foster the exchange of ideas and various perspectives among its membership with those in the community and government. Committee delegations have been invited to give briefings to top officials at the White House and Zhongnanhai.

The committee has been described as avoiding criticism of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its policies. A 2018 report by the Hoover Institution and a 2020 Newsweek report noted that committee members have been targets of the CCP's United Front Work Department pressure and influence operations. In 2024, the committee was one of several organizations that opposed the reauthorization of the United States House Select Committee on Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party.

Membership

The membership, as of October 2020, is as follows, where each name is followed by the member's date of election in parentheses:

Former members

Zheng Cao, Chinese American Mezzo-soprano
Iris Chang, Chinese American Historian and Journalist
Anna Chennault, writer, lecturer, international business executive, and Chairman of the Council for International Cooperation (CIC)
Matt Fong, Former California State Treasurer
John Liu Fugh, United States Army Major General and Judge Advocate General of the U.S. Army (2001, d. 2010)
I. M. Pei, architect (1989), founder of the organization
William W. Shaw, leading plastic surgeon
Charlie Sie, Chairman of Aviva Systems Biology
Cyrus Tang, CEO & Chairman of Tang Industries, Inc.
Kung-Lee Wang, Founder of Organization of Chinese Americans (OCA)
Chien-Shiung Wu, Chinese American Experimental Physicist and Founder, Committee of 100
Albert Yu, Chairman of One Angstrom
Y.C. Yang, prominent structural engineer
John Young, distinguished professor at Georgetown University
Ernest Sho-Hua Liu, Securities Analyst and managing director, Goldman, Sachs & Co. (retired)