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A dream of American kids studying Chinese as regularly as Spanish

Major figures in politics and business urged the United States and China to forge closer ties for the benefit of world interests at the annual gala of the National Committee on US-China Relations.

"China and the US are working to build a new model of a major country relationship based on mutual respect and win-win cooperation," said Tang Jiaxuan, former state councillor of China.

His remarks at the Wednesday night event in Manhattan echoed last June's Obama-Xi summit meeting in Sunnylands, California when both leaders endorsed a "new model" of US-China cooperation.

Tang, who was China's minister of foreign affairs until becoming state councillor in 2003, told guests at the Plaza hotel that congratulatory letters the committee had received from US President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping were "full recognition" of its "good work" and "encouragement for you to do an even better job".

The gala is the major fund-raiser for the nonprofit group, which encourages productive Sino-American relations.

Committee President Stephen Orlins kicked off the evening by articulating his dream for US-China relations in a speech interwoven with quotes from Martin Luther King Jr and Robert F. Kennedy.

Among the scenarios he sketched out, he said, "I dream of American children studying Chinese in their schools as regularly as Spanish", not only to understand the language but to appreciate Chinese culture and history.

The former diplomat, lawyer, banker and investor emphasized that the gala was taking place in the wake of the seventh round of the US-China Track II Economic Dialogue held in Beijing in June. Held in partnership with the China Center for Economic Research, the two-day forum brought together leading Chinese and American economists, economic thinkers and business leaders for open, off-the-record discussions of important issues related to US-China economic relations and the global economic system.

After completing his expression of his vision, Orlins told the audience: "The naysayers tell me this is a pipe dream, they say that the conflicts are too great, that this (gap) is insurmountable but these naysayers are wrong". Examples of the growing US-China bond are in abundance, he said.

In a highlight of the evening, former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger presented awards to Klaus Kleinfeld, chairman and CEO of aluminum producer Alcoa Inc, and Richard Gelfond, CEO of theater company IMAX Corp, for their efforts in helping to forge closer US-China relations.

New York-based Alcoa has invested more than $800 million in China since 1993, becoming one of the Chinese aluminum industry's largest foreign investors.

IMAX, with a 15-year presence in China, has more than 150 theaters in the country and contracts for 400 more in the next few years. China has become the largest non-US market for the company, which is based in Mississauga, Ontario, near Toronto.

Other speakers included Cui Tiankai, China's ambassador to the US; Sun Guoxiang, consul general of China in New York; and Liu Jieyi, China's permanent representative to the United Nations.

The evening also included a salute to the Philadelphia Orchestra, which 40 years ago visited China, an event that is said to have cemented the US's official relationship with China, a year after then President Richard Nixon's visit to Beijing.

For the gala, some of the orchestra's current members played two pieces from the 1973 orchestra's program.

michaelbarris@chinadailyusa.com

(China Daily USA 10/17/2013 page1)