|
China-U.S. 'ping pong diplomacy' marked
(AFP)
Updated: 2006-03-27 20:45
An American delegation was in China to mark the 35th anniversary of a visit
by US table tennis players that helped end the Cold War between Beijing and
Washington.
Chinese and American table tennis players
practice in April 1971. An American delegation was in China to mark the
35th anniversary of a visit by US table tennis players that helped end the
Cold War between Beijing and Washington.
[AFP] |
The 25 delegates were scheduled to travel to Beijing, Shanghai and the east
Chinese city of Changshu to commemorate the surprise visit of the US national
team in April 1971, the Xinhua news agency reported over the weekend.
The delegation, which included several eyewitnesses of that first visit, was
headed by Sheri Soderberg Pittman, president of USA Table Tennis, the nation's
governing body of the sport, according to the agency.
The table tennis players' visit 35 years ago ushered in an era of low-level
"ping pong diplomacy," helping the United States and China to gradually reach an
understanding to put an end to hostility that had lasted for a generation.
The warming of relations culminated in a visit by then US president Richard
Nixon to China in early 1972.
|
| |
|
| |