Shannon Brandao
Shannon's excerpt from the article: "WaPo [excerpt]: When mayors from cities including Carmel, Ind., and Oxford, Miss., went to #China recently, they were feted in ways big and small. They test-drove the newest electric-vehicle models, some with seats that doubled as massage chairs. They were hosted by a deputy provincial governor and treated to aged Maotai, Mao Zedong’s favorite liquor, from one Chinese official’s private collection.
Their counterparts in China, starved of #international visitors and potential #investors during four years of pandemic and border controls, were 'overjoyed' to receive the American mayors, said Min Fan, executive director of U.S. Heartland China Association, a U.S. nonprofit that organized the trip for six mayors to five cities in China late last year.
'Everywhere we went, whether it was #HongKong or #Wuhan, they hadn’t had a delegation like this for a long time,' she said. Even more Chinese cities wanted to host them, Fan added. 'Cities were fighting to get on our itinerary, but we literally couldn’t.'
Chinese provincial and city leaders have for decades appealed to their American counterparts to try to create investment and #trade opportunities. Those efforts, stalled during the coronavirus pandemic, are ramping up again — with newfound gusto.
Chinese officials are seizing on opportunities to forge ties with mayors and other local American leaders, the kinds of connections that give Beijing leverage against an increasingly hostile government in Washington.
The United States’ relationship with China is at its worst since the two countries agreed to officially recognize each other more than 45 years ago, although there have been recent efforts to stabilize relations. Chinese leader #XiJinping’s bid for global dominance means that, more than ever, Beijing is seen by Washington as a threat to the country’s national security and economy.
With Xi’s encouragement, leaders outside the Beltway are the next target of Chinese efforts to win friends and #influence in the United States. But during a sensitive #election year these friendships will be hard to come by as American leaders are wary of being seen as too close to China.
'What the Chinese are doing is trying to find supporters and advocates for the U.S.-China relationship and operationalize them,' said Evan Medeiros, head of Asia studies at Georgetown University, who served as a top Asia Pacific adviser during the Obama administration. 'They want to activate the sources of ballast in the relationship to stop the deterioration.'”
#news #business #geopolitics