A diverse group of former Chinese officials and scholars visited New York early this month in the largest semi-official diplomatic initiative in Sino-US relations in three years.
The nine-day trip, which concluded on November 16 – two days after President Xi Jinping and United States President Joe Biden met on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia – was the first by such a delegation since the end of the Communist Party’s five-yearly national congress last month.
It was seen by many as being part of efforts by both sides to de-escalate bilateral tensions.
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The Chinese delegation was led by Wang Chao, a former vice-minister of foreign affairs and the director and party chief of the Chinese People’s Institute of Foreign Affairs, a state-affiliated civil diplomacy organisation, the institute said in an article published on Tuesday.
Former vice-minister of foreign affairs Wang Chao led the semi-official Chinese delegation on its trip to the US. Photo: Handout
Members included a dozen former business, trade and finance officials, as well as scholars in the fields of diplomacy and defence. They included former commerce minister Chen Deming, Cui Tiankai, the former Chinese ambassador to the US, and the heads of a solar power company and a car parts company.
The group met former US officials and executives led by Maurice Greenberg, the former chairman and CEO of insurer American International Group. Greenberg, 97, is known for his close ties with China.
