Humorous and serious stories of China-US ties shared

NEW YORK: How many Americans can say they’ve shaken hands with President Xi Jinping – and with his father?

That was one of the anecdotes offered by speakers at a Vision China event in New York on Tuesday.

The guests enlightened the 300strong diverse audience at the Asia Society for the event titled “ChinaUS Relations: 40 Years & Beyond”.

Kenneth Quinn, now president of the World Food Prize Foundation in Iowa, joked about a mistake on a graphic posted on the stage’s video screen which said that in 2012, with the signing of the US-China Strategic Cooperation Agreement in Agriculture, China would buy US$3.5mil (RM14.6mil) in Iowa soybeans. The number should have said US$3.5bil (RM14.6bil).

Quinn also got to escort then vice-president Xi to the World Food Prize Hall of Laureates in Des Moines, Iowa, for the signing.

“By the way, I’m one of the few Iowans to shake your hand who also shook your father’s hand when he came to Iowa in 1980,” Quinn said to Xi through an interpreter.

Other guest speakers included Connie Sweeris, who along with her husband, Dell, played a key role in the “ping-pong diplomacy” of the 1970s between the two nations.

In April 1971, she travelled to China on a historic trip by a US table tennis team. There, they got to meet then premier Zhou Enlai.

“Every place we went, we were served eight-to-10 course banquet meals,” Sweeris recounted.

Besides the lighter moments, there were some serious ones, such as the current trade standoff between the United States and China.

Economist Stephen Roach, a leading Wall Street expert on China, explained why the approach to the trade row needed to be rethought.

“I’m looking for macroeconomic adjustments in both countries, where we save more and China saves less,” said Roach.