
CPAFFC Vice President Li Xiaolin headed the fifth Say It As It Is Delegation to the US from April 20 to 26. This also included Chang Bo, Deputy Secretary General of the Guangdong Provincial People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, Zhang Chuanjie, a scholar from Tsinghua University, Gong Jinwen, Chairman of Shanxi Huanjie Petroleum Drilling Tools Co., Ltd., and Nie Ji, a worker from Guangzhou South China Tire Rubber Co., Ltd.
The delegation met with six members of the House of Representatives respectively for a frank and friendly dialogue on various topics including China-US relations, and American trade-related actions such as the tariffs imposed on tires from China, anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigations and punitive duty on oil and gas well steel pipes from China. The delegation also attended the 19th Seminar on US-China Relations entitled “Strategic Dialogues, Shared Vision for the Next 30 Years” sponsored by the US-China Peoples Friendship Association.
The delegation drew much media attention. Li Xiaolin, Gong Jinwen and Nie Ji respectively were interviewed by reporters from the People’s Daily, Xinhua News Agency, China News Agency and Phoenix TV. Phoenix TV aired the edited interviews in its program Good Morning China on April 23. And on April 24, China Press US carried a full-page story on the delegation’s visit. The Washington Post and Voice of America also interviewed Gong Jinwen.
Since 2002, the CPAFFC has organized five Say It As It Is Delegations to the US. Consisting of ordinary Chinese people, the delegations have visited Capitol Hill in Washington DC and held dialogues with a total of 98 Senators and House Representatives, helping the latter gain a better understanding of China. In the following paragraphs we present the individual views of the visit contributed by two of the participants.