Committee of 100

The Committee of 100 has previously opposed local and national legislation that would prohibit the purchase or leasing of land in the United States by a foreign entity while tracking passed or proposed legislation through a database on its website. As of 2025, the group was opposing the National Farm Security Action Plan, announced by the second Trump administration’s U.S Department of Agriculture (USDA), that would end direct or indirect ownership of United States farmland by foreign nationals or entities. ²

Background

The Committee of 100 was founded in 1989 by cellist Yo-Yo Ma, architect I.M. Pei, investment banker Henry S. Tang, businessman Oscar Tang, physicist Chien-Shiung Wu, and businesswoman Shirley Young after former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger advised Pei to organize a Chinese-American advocacy group in response to the Tiananmen Square Massacre. The group was founded that same year to advocate in favor of improved U.S-Chinese relations while claiming to help integrate Chinese-American communities within the United State. ¹

The Committee of 100 is a membership-based organization that advocates polices that protect Chinese-American citizens as well as Asian-American communities.  ^{3  4  5}

Advocacy

On its website, the Committee of 100 tracks state and federal legislation that would restrict property ownership by foreign governments, businesses, and entities within the United States. It argues that such legislation “legitimizes harmful and xenophobic claims about immigrants that exacerbate anti-Asian violence that has negatively affected U.S. citizens and non-citizens alike.”  ²

In 2023, the Committee of 100 published a “Diplomatic Language Guide” on its website including a “framework for assessing the language that officials and their staff use in public communications.”  ⁶ The Guide also advises on language that it claims helps distinguish between “China and the Chinese people, the PRC, and the Communist Party of China (CCP).”  ⁶ The guide advises against associating “motivation” to another country’s actions, or “evok[ing] images of war.” It also instructs officials to describe China as a “resurgent” power instead of a “rising” power. ⁷

In 2022, the Committee of 100 created a project that tracks and documents state-level policies and education standards that affect the study of the history and culture of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, Pacific Islanders, and other ethnic minorities. The project also developed lesson plans for teachers to use to teach Chinese-American history. ⁸

Leadership

Paul Cheung is the president of the Committee of 100. Cheung also works as a strategic advisor to Hacks/Hackers and previously worked as a guest columnist for the Reynolds Journalism Institute. He has also worked as CEO for the Center for Public Integrity and as the director of journalism and technology innovation for the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. ⁹

Financials

In 2024, the Committee of 100 reported $3.3 million in total revenue, including $470,548 in membership dues and $93,241 in government grants, which made up 2.7 percent of its total revenue. ¹⁰ It also reported $3.0 million in total expenses, which included $1.5 million in salaries and compensation for its employees. ¹¹