From the Committee of 100 Chairman

Dominic Ng

March 2012

The February visit of Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping to the United States gave Americans a positive impression of China’s next leader and bodes well for a more open and productive relationship between our two countries. I had the opportunity to meet and talk with Vice President Xi in both Washingt on, D.C. and Los Angeles. He impressed me as being a down-to-earth Chinese leader with whom we can have a genuine exchange of views.

At a luncheon co-hosted by the Committee of 100 in Washington, Vice President Xi emphasized the importance of people-to-people ties in building mutual trust and recalled his first trip to the U.S. 27 years ago when he was hosted by a farm family. On this trip, he took a break from meetings with American government and business leaders to renew these friendships in the small town of Muscatine, Iowa. Vice President Xi also affirmed to me that he welcomed the next Committee of 100 delegation to China, which is planned for late 2012 or early 2013.

Washington, D.C. is equally important for the Committee’s commitment to a closer Sino-American relationship, and during Vice President Xi’s visit we hosted a Chinese New Year reception for members of Congress, Congressional staff, Washington-based policy-makers, and media. This is the first Washington event of the year in our outreach to American decision-makers. Also, we reinforced our contacts with the most influential members of the American press with a Chinese New Year reception in New York for alumni of our many C-100 Leadership Delegations to China.

We are proud to announce that the Wanxiang Corporation has made a $250,000 grant to the Committee of 100 for the 2012 C-100 Summer Teachers Institute on China, which is part of the U.S. State Department’s “100,000 Strong” initiative to increase the numbers of Americans studying in China. This will be C-100’s fifth teachers institute and this year has a “green” theme, Renewable Energy - Science and Policy.

You will learn about all these programs and noteworthy news about C-100 members in this issue of the newsletter.