Washington responded by describing China as a "responsible stakeholder" in the international system. In a 2005 speech at the National Committee on United States—China Relations, Robert Zoellick, then Deputy Secretary of State, put forward the American response to Zheng's article, which "amounted to an invitation to China to become a privileged member, and shaper, of the international system." Nonetheless, Amitai Etzioni of the Institute for Communitarian Policy Studies has frequently expressed concern that the United States' actions, in particular its development of AirSea Battle, belie its stated goals of cooperation with China, and that the two countries must deliberately retreat from what he views as a potential "collision course."