History unfolded when athletes visited nearly 50 years ago

Editor's note: In Footprint, a series of articles recalling important examples of China's interactions with the world, we follow the path the country has taken in the past seven decades.

On April 7, 1971, the last day of competition at the 31st World Table Tennis Championships in Nagoya, Japan, Connie Sweeris, the reigning champion from the United States, was called to a team meeting.

"We were told that we had been invited to visit China," she said. "But no American had been allowed into China for 22 years."

Three days later, Sweeris was looking out a train window at an extended patchwork of rice paddies, dotted by men carrying buckets of water hanging from poles across their shoulders.

The train was taking Sweeris and her teammates－a party of 15, including nine players－from Hong Kong to Guangzhou, Guangdong province, where they would start a weeklong visit to China.

What the young athlete did not fully realize at the time was that history was unfolding, and she was part of it. US president Richard Nixon would visit China in February 1972, followed two months later by a reciprocal tour of the US by a Chinese table tennis team.

The groundbreaking events, known as ping-pong diplomacy, are even referenced in the 1994 hit Hollywood movie Forrest Gump, in which the lead character develops an aptitude for the sport and joins the US Army team before eventually competing against Chinese athletes on a goodwill tour.

The catalyst for the historic events of 1972 was a dramatic meeting between flamboyant US player Glenn Cowan and Chinese competitor and three-time world champion Zhuang Zedong.

In Nagoya one afternoon, Cowan was practicing with a Chinese player when he realized he was too late to catch his team's bus. Instead, he took the Chinese team's bus. Zhuang rose from his seat at the back to greet Cowan and presented him with a silk-screen portrait of the Huangshan mountain range in Anhui province.

Later, when Cowan and Zhuang got off the bus, they found themselves in the media spotlight. Asked by a journalist whether he wanted to go to China, Cowan replied, "Of course!"

In a television interview in 2002, Zhuang recalled how he hesitated before approaching Cowan on the bus, and how he fumbled in his bag to find the gift. Cowan did his own share of fumbling, but was only able to come up with a comb.

Sweeris, now 72, said: "I was on the US team when this happened. Glenn told us he was so excited to have met Zhuang, the world's greatest table tennis player, but felt bad about not having a decent gift. He went out the very next day and bought his new friend a T-shirt bearing the words 'Let There Be Peace'."

Sweeris, like most people, was unaware of the deliberations taking place at national level for the trip, but recalls vividly the hectic preparations.

"We had to get permission from the US government. Our passports, which bore the words 'You cannot enter Communist mainland China', were taken to the US embassy to have the sentence struck out with a black marker pen," she said.

Shanghai's key role

In recent decades, Shanghai, a must-visit destination for many foreigners, has witnessed a series of memorable events testifying to China's advancing and changing interactions with the US.

The city hosted both the US table tennis team in 1971 and Nixon the following year.

According to veteran diplomats, interactions between China and the US in Shanghai, and what they have achieved in the city in past decades, are part of the two countries' shared legacy and are lessons that need to be passed on.

The diplomats said the two countries' policymakers also need to keep cool heads, develop new policy approaches and bolster mutual engagement to ensure that bilateral problematic and rapidly changing issues do not spiral into a crisis or dampen either nation's growth prospects.

At the end of Nixon's historic trip, the Chinese and US governments issued the Shanghai Communique－the first landmark bilateral joint statement that served as a prelude to them establishing diplomatic relations in 1979.

Since then, Shanghai has been the venue for other crucial events, such as the first one-on-one meeting between President Jiang Zemin and his US counterpart George W. Bush in 2001, as well as the latest round of bilateral high-level economic and trade consultations in July.

Alongside consensus that has been reached, Beijing and Washington have experienced differences to a varying degree in recent decades.

US Ambassador to China Terry Branstad told local media during a visit to the Iowa State Fair in the US in mid-August, "We're back at the bargaining table, but we've got some big differences."

Da Wei, assistant president of the University of International Relations in Beijing and an expert on US studies, said a strategic perspective is needed in tackling China-US ties, and "both sides should be confident in themselves and should not attribute their failures to each other".

To prevent the two countries edging toward another "cold war", Da said they should keep their competition healthy, under control and expand two-way cooperation.

They should also exercise effective crisis management to guard against "unintended accidents or disturbance from a third party", Da added.

Cui Tiankai, China's ambassador to the US, said at a reception in Washington on Aug 1, "The ever-deepening China-US cooperation that spans the Pacific Ocean has not only advanced our own development, but also benefited the whole world.

With this year marking the 40th anniversary of Sino-US diplomatic ties, Cui said, "One thing that we have learned from the past four decades is that both countries benefit from cooperation and lose in confrontation."

Evolving agenda

Wu Xinbo, a leading scholar and professor of US studies based in Shanghai, took part in events in the city with two visiting US presidents－Bill Clinton and Barack Obama－in 1998 and 2009 respectively.

When Clinton visited Shanghai after trips to Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi province, and Beijing, Wu was the only international relations expert alongside seven other local residents invited to talk to the US leader at a symposium at the city library.

Wu said he was impressed when Clinton asked him for his opinion on China-US relations.

"He commended my analysis after I expressed my views, and then he talked about the Taiwan question," Wu said, adding that Clinton clearly stated that the US does not support "Taiwan independence".

Both governments pinned high hopes on that trip, said Wu, who is now director of the Center for American Studies at Fudan University in Shanghai.

"But at the time, political support within the US toward developing relations with China was not very strong, and many US politicians were unable to observe China's economic growth and social changes that had taken place," Wu added.

Reviewing the evolving China-US agenda in recent decades, Wu said the fact that the two countries have advanced their relationship and are constantly adapting to changing times is a "great success".

Speaking at a news conference after his talks with Bush in Shanghai on Oct 19, 2001, Jiang highlighted the two countries' shared duties in championing peace and security in the Asia-Pacific region and the world, and in fighting terrorism. He urged the two sides to properly address their ties, particularly the Taiwan question.

Bush welcomed China's forthcoming admission to the World Trade Organization in December that year, and described US ties with China as candid and constructive, People's Daily reported.

Eighteen years later, President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Donald Trump met on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Osaka, Japan, in June.

They discussed the economy and trade, Chinese students studying in the US, the Taiwan question and the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue, according to a release by the Foreign Ministry.

Wu said that at times the two countries have had different priorities, but have succeeded in finding common ground.

"The major lessons for the two countries are that they should be very prudent about issues involving the core interests of each other, such as the Taiwan question … and neither of them should let bilateral ties be subject to domestic politics," the professor added.

Yuan Peng, a leading US expert and president of the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, said that despite the Taiwan question, many new issues that emerged－including the Korean nuclear situation, the South China Sea, global economic governance and climate change－were not included in the landmark joint statements issued by the two governments in 1972, 1978 and 1982.

On the basis of remaining true to the principles outlined by the milestone documents, the two countries should continue seeking a new framework to complement them, and "only by so doing can they shape more-balanced growth for China-US relations", Yuan said.

He added that the two countries should "reassure each other". Washington needs to recognize and accept China's peaceful rise, while Beijing should convince the US that this rise will not be achieved through challenging US power, Yuan added.

Engaging each other

In a rapidly changing city, the Shanghai Disney Resort and electric vehicle giant Tesla's first overseas factory are among the signature facilities that best represent Sino-US mutual economic and cultural engagement.

The Disney venue has become the fastest-growing of the entertainment company's parks worldwide, and early this year it confirmed plans for new facilities under the theme of the Disney animation hit Zootopia.

On Aug 7, Tesla announced on Sina Weibo that construction of its factory in Shanghai was proceeding smoothly, and estimated that production could start at the end of the year.

Shanghai was also in the media spotlight in July, when it hosted the 12th round of the China-US high-level economic and trade consultations.

It was the first time the negotiations had been held in a city other than the two nations' capitals－Beijing and Washington. Some media commentators and observers said the negotiators were earnestly seeking breakthroughs and needed "more-enabling circumstances".

According to Chinese media reports, the Xijiao State Guest Hotel, which hosted the talks between Jiang and Bush in 2001, was the main venue for the discussions chaired by Vice-Premier Liu He, US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on July 30 and 31.

The Ministry of Commerce said in a statement that the two sides had "candid, efficient and constructive in-depth exchanges" on major issues of common concern, and they discussed China buying US agricultural produce.

It was not the first time Shanghai had witnessed the two countries pushing ahead with talks on a critical economic and trade agenda.

In June 2001, negotiators from both sides for China's accession to the World Trade Organization met as Shanghai hosted the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting.

Shi Guangsheng, foreign trade minister at the time, said they "embarked on enduring negotiations" and reached key consensus on China's agricultural subsidies.

This played a vital role in resolving the issues that had not been settled in multilateral negotiations, Shi told the Shanghai newspaper Jiefang Daily in 2017.

China has been the US' top trading partner since 2015, and two-way investment has reached nearly $160 billion.

Speaking at a graduation ceremony at Tsinghua University's School of Economics and Management in July, Shi said there was still considerable room for growth in this regard, and the bilateral trade friction was having an impact on the US which "cannot be underestimated".

Amid the current trade tension, Shi said US consumers pay for any additional tariffs that are imposed, and the drop in agricultural produce exported to China will damage the interests of US farmers.

This will "definitely affect US interests and even have a political impact", Shi added.

Policy insiders from both nations are calling for the removal of barriers to people-to-people exchanges, which have been affected by their tense relationship.

In May, The Associated Press reported that after more than a decade of rapid growth, the number of Chinese visitors to the US had fallen for the first time in 15 years.

During a meeting with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Bangkok, the Thai capital, on Aug 1, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said the two countries should expand cooperation in various fields and it was hoped that the US would facilitate, rather than create obstacles to, people-to-people exchanges between both nations.

Jan Berris, vice-president of the National Committee on US-China Relations, said, "I'm a strong believer in engagement and exchanges."

When Deng Xiaoping, the then-vice-premier, paid a symbolic visit to the US in February 1979, Berris was tasked with coordinating Chinese press activities. In the next four decades, she travelled to China more than 150 times.

"Despite the fact that the two governments don't have the best relationship at the moment, there can be－and there are－a great variety of exchanges going on at different levels that provide an opportunity for the Americans and the Chinese to learn about each other," she said.

Zhu Feng, dean of the School of International Relations at Nanjing University in Jiangsu province, said engaging more scholars and retired officials to embark on "track two" dialogues (unofficial discussions) could produce more in-depth, flexible and open debate, help boost contacts among think tanks, formulate policy advice and "avoid miscalculations on some major issues".

On Aug 16, the sound of ping-pong balls bouncing could be heard at the University of California's John Wooden Center in Los Angeles as the 58 members of the Chinese national team paid a 20-day visit to train with players from Team USA as trade tensions continued between the two countries.

Liu Guoliang, president of the Chinese Table Tennis Association, said: "It's the 48th anniversary of ping-pong diplomacy, so a strong foundation has been jointly developed by several generations of Chinese and American table tennis players and officials. I think our friendship and the spirit of pingpong diplomacy will continue."

Liu Yinming in Los Angeles contributed to this story