From left: Chi Wang, president of the US-China Policy Foundation (USCPF); Elaine Chao, former US labor secretary; and Ernestine Wang, wife of Chi Wang, gather after Chao received USCPF’s Outstanding Achievement Award for her and her family at the USCPF’s gala dinner on Wednesday in Washington. CHEN WEIHUA / CHINA DAILY

 

Former US Labor Secretary Elaine Chao, her family and Admiral William Fallon, former head of the US Pacific and Central commands, were honored on Wednesday evening at the US-China Policy Foundation annual gala in Washington.

Chao received the Outstanding Achievement in Public Service award and the Outstanding Achievement in Philanthropy award on behalf of her family.

She recalled the experience of her parents. Her father James Chao and mother Ruth Mulan Chu Chao, who grew up in one of the most tumultuous periods of 20th century China, where they saw the land of their birth invaded and devastated by decades of war.

“It took my father three long years before he was able to bring my mother, my two sisters and me to America,” she said. “He did not see his third daughter until he was 3 years old.”

“The initial years in his country were very difficult,” said Chao, who served as labor secretary under President George W. Bush.

Chao said adjusting to a new life in a new country with a different language and culture was not easy.

“The feeling of vulnerability and anxiety that new immigrants possess are ones I am very familiar with,” said Chao, stressing how love and the emphasis on education have inspired the family and children.

Elaine Chao is widely regarded as one of the most successful Chinese Americans in the US.

Admiral Fallon noted that the military-to-military relations between the countries was lacking during his days more than 10 years ago.

He said that as China’s stature grows and its impact in Asia and in the rest of world grows, there is the inevitability of competition.

“I think it’s critically important that competition be channeled in a way that is helpful to our people of the two countries and the world,” he said.

He emphasized the necessity and importance for good relations and good understanding between the military leaders, from the highest ranks to junior officers.

“And it’s important because we cannot afford to make a mistake, to make a misjudgment and to make assumptions that are based on a lack of knowledge and lack of understanding,” Fallon said.

Congressman Rick Larsen, co-chair of the House US-China Working Group, described the bilateral relationship as one of hopes and hurdles.

The hopes Larsen citied include the Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) being negotiated by the two countries. He emphasized that US state and local officials have been pushing for Chinese investment in the US.

Larsen also saw hope in leaders’ exchange, the latest being President Xi Jinping’s state visit to the US in September, including to Larsen’s Washington state.

Larsen praised Xi for getting out of the main cities. “That’s a lesson we learned at the US China Working Group. When we go to China, we go to Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong, but we also try to go to other large cities and small areas outside large cities in the west as well.”

Larsen, who first set up the working group about 10 years with then-Illinois Congressman Mark Kirk, now a senator, also saw the hope from the US and China working together to address climate change. He called it a positive move.

“It sets an example for the rest of the world,” he said, adding that it will create positive momentum leading to the Paris climate conference at the end of this month.

Larsen, however, also pointed to the challenge regarding currency issues, the South China Sea and cybersecurity.

The US-China Policy Foundation, set up in 1995, is a well-known organization that promotes understanding between policymakers, government officials and researchers in the US and China.