Sherwood (Woody) D. Goldberg and his wife Susan will attend all the concerts of the joint performance by the Military Band of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) and the United States Army Band "Pershing's Own" in Washington, Philadelphia and New York.

"I do this on my own and I do not do it in my official capacity, because of (my) passionate interest in (the) strengthening of US-China relationship," says Goldberg in an exclusive interview with China Daily.

During his visit to China in 2009, General George W. Casey Jr, former Chief of Staff of the US army, and his Chinese military counterparts agreed to open exchanges between the two militaries, including cultural exchanges.

"Culture exchanges, particularly with music, can be a very meaningful demonstration that with true engagement, we can learn more about each other and build more mutual trust between two of the most important nations in the world at a time when the world is in turmoil," he said.

"We can send the message to the world that these two great nations can work together for peace and stability in Asia and throughout the world," he said.

"We have many mutual interest(s) and we have many ways to work together for the well-being of the Chinese and American people. Other nations can benefit from that good relationship."

Goldberg, a civilian aide to the Secretary of the Army and a senior adviser on Asian affairs at the Center for Naval Analyses China Studies, saw action in Vietnam, taught international relations at West Point and above all, served as chief of staff to Alexander Haig when Haig was US Secretary of State between 1981 and 1982.

For Goldberg, the first visit of the PLA Military Band to the US plays the same role of good public diplomacy as the first visit of the American ping-pong team to China, the Beijing Olympics and the Shanghai Expo.

For him, there is also the Lang Lang music diplomacy. He recalls one morning in 1996, when he and his wife played host to Lang Lang and his father, both of whom had just arrived in Philadelphia. His wife told Lang Lang that he could practice the piano if he liked, since he had not touched a piano for three days while traveling.

"For the next three hours, Lang Lang kept playing Mozart, Beethoven and others, with his father standing beside the piano," Goldberg recalls.

He says he didn't know much about China when he studied and taught contemporary Chinese politics. He says he is honored to have worked beside General Haig, and he values the legacy that Haig, as well as Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, Deng Xiaoping, Richard Nixon and others have left for the betterment of China-US relations.

Since 1979, he has traveled to China about 50 times.

He recalls asking several young people what they wanted to buy back in the mid-1980s. The list ranged from TV sets to washing machines. What about a car, he asked. They said "not in our lifetime".

Over the years he has seen the route to the Beijing International Airport widened from a two-lane road to a six-lane expressway.

When he asked a Chinese army band musician what he would take home as gifts to his child and wife, "he said iPad-2," Goldberg says.

China Daily