On the eve of attending President Obama’s State Dinner for President Hu Jintao, Committee of 100 Chair John S. Chen has been all over the American press, from The New Yorker to the Los Angeles Times and even on C-SPAN. Evan Osnos in his January 19 New Yorker column, “Letter from China,” writes:
Hu Jintao has always wanted to be asked to dinner in Washington. Five years ago, George W. Bush refused. . . .
This time, relations between Beijing and Washington are far rougher than five years ago, but Obama has gone all in on hospitality. After a cozy dinner with the President last night, Hu is to receive a full twenty-one gun salute on the White House south lawn, followed by a State Department luncheon, and then the long-sought state dinner, only Obama’s third since taking office. . . .
One guest, John Chen, the Silicon Valley businessman who heads the Committee of 100, a network of prominent Chinese Americans, said he heard the bash would be less baroque than the tented event put on for India, and less raucous than the song-and-dance heavy event given to Mexico.
Osnos had picked up this news from the January 19 Chicago Tribune, "Guests Prepare for White House State Dinner with Chinese President":
Also planning to attend is John Chen, who leads the Silicon Valley software giant Sybase Inc. and chairs the influential Committee of 100, a group of prominent Chinese Americans.
Chen said he had been told that the black-tie dinner would be a relatively small affair, without the elaborate tents featured at the Obamas' first state dinner (for India's leader) or the entertainment at their second (for Mexico's leader).
Chen, who sits on the board of the San Francisco Symphony, also said he had heard that Lang Lang, the 28-year-old Chinese piano virtuoso, was invited.
C-SPAN broadcast live a three-hour Tavis Smiley special, "America's Next Chapter," on January 13, with Chen among those discussing American challenges facing the next generation, including CNBC anchor Maria Bartiromo and Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank. Smiley (who traveled last year on the Committee’s delegation of journalists to China) asked Chen to advise Obama on his meeting with Hu. Chen said that American businesses now earned more than half their revenues outside the United States and a sound policy toward China would promote American innovation and discourage protectionism. “All our allies are getting their fair share and some more.” He also urged President Obama to welcome direct investment from China in order to create more American jobs.
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