NACA hosted dinner to welcome Ambassador Wu Jianmin
On February 24, 2016, NACA hosted dinner at Canton House restaurant to welcome Ambassador Wu Jianmin. NACA’s President, Ms. Lani Wong, and Board Members Jung Mar, Henry Yu, Charlene Fang, Jin Jin, Celena Xu, Maggie Mer, Ethel Mar, Gene Hanratty attended the dinner. Also present at the dinner were former U.S. Ambassador Mr. Charles Shapiro, Atlanta’s first Chinese judge Justice Alvin Wong, Dr. Liu Ya-wei China Program Director at the Carter Center, Vice President of Georgia Tech Ms. Martha, Atlanta International Education Group CEO Dr. Jin Jin, President of Atlanta Hong Kong Chamber of Commerce Mr. Henry Yu, President of the Atlanta China Chamber of Commerce Li Yanxiang, and other political and business elites, professors and student representatives.
Ambassador Wu Jianmin is currently Executive Vice Chairman of China Institute for Innovation and Development Strategy, a Senior Research Fellow of the Counselors’ office of the State Council of China, a Member of the Foreign Policy Advisory Committee of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, a Member and Vice President of the European Academy of Sciences, and Honorary President of the International Bureau of Exhibitions (BIE).
On February 24, 2016, The Carter Center’s China Program and Emory University’s Halle Institute for Global Learning hosted Ambassador Wu Jianmin to speak on the topic of “Changes in Chinese Foreign Policy since 2013”. He pointed out the integrality of US-China relations and celebrated the growing economic relationship between the United States and China, growing from USD 5 million in 1971 to 60 billion last year. He pointed out three important aspects to US-China relations including avoiding confrontation, upholding “mutual respect” and maintaining “win-win cooperation.” Throughout the talk, Ambassador emphasized that the bilateral relationship between the U.S. and China is too important to fail. He urges that by “acknowledging the differences,” “conducting dialogue”, “focusing on the issues that can be handled today” and “not letting differences block cooperation”, the United States and China will be able to maintain a strong and healthy relationship for the future. This successful event was also greatly supported by NACA and Atlanta’s Chinese community.
During the welcome dinner, Ms. Lani Wong, President of NACA, discussed with Ambassador Wu regarding NACA’s long time contribution to the China-U.S. relationship and its missions: NACA is a non-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of cordial relationships between the United States and China. It was founded in 1977 by Dr. ZhengNing Yang, a Nobel laureate in Physics.
Ms. Lani Wong is one of the founders of NACA. During the past 35 years, Ms. Lani Wong has continued to lead NACA to organize and sponsor activities that bring together Chinese dignitaries, local Georgia government officials as well as community and business leaders. NACA’s mission has been as a facilitator to promote cultural, educational, scientific and business relationships between these parties. It also strongly encourages Chinese-Americans to participate in the American political process while preserving Chinese heritage in the American culture.
全美华人协会隆重欢迎吴建民大使到访亚特兰大！
2016年2月24日晚，全美华人协会主席李秀兰女士偕理事们Jung Mar, Henry Yu, Charlene Fang, Jin Jin，Celena Xu，Maggie Mer, Ethel Mar, Gene Hanratty 等在亚特
兰大著名的富丽华大酒店热烈欢迎并宴请吴建民大使。 出席晚宴的还有美国前大使Charles Shapiro 先生, 亚特兰大首个华裔大法官Alvin Wong法官, 卡特中心中国项目主任
刘亚伟博士，乔治亚理工大学副校长玛莎女士，亚特兰大国际教育集团总裁金瑾博士，亚特兰大香港商会会长余振鸿先生，亚特兰大中国商会会长李雁翔及其他政商届精英和大学教授及学生代表。
吴建民大使是中国最杰出的外交官之一， 现任中国外交部外交政策咨询委员会委员，国家创新与发展战略研究会常务副会长，欧亚科学院院士, 欧洲科学院院士。曾任全国政协外事委员会副主任、外交学院院长，国际展览局主席（他是担任这一重要职务的第一位亚洲人），中国外交部新闻司司长，并曾经担任中国驻荷兰大使，中国驻联合国常驻大使，中国驻法国大使重要职务。
2月24号下午吴建民大使受邀请在世界知名学府埃默里大学演讲了主题为“2013年以来中国外交政策的变化”。精彩的演讲吸引了来自亚特兰大众多学府的教授们，知名学者还有学生们。 吴大使以中美关系开头，讨论了自前国务卿亨利·基辛格于1971年访华开始，中美关系的历史。吴大使强调了中美关系的一体化进程，并且称赞了两国经济关系的发展，中美贸易额从1971年的五百万美元增长到2015年的五千亿美元。吴大使指出了中美关系的三个重要方面包括：避免对峙，坚持“相互尊重”以及保持双赢合作。尽管媒体中有很多中美关系的负面报道，吴大使说道，两国已经就很多问题开展了合作。2014年11月，美国总统奥巴马和中国主席习近平在亚太经和会议中发表了关于气候变化的共同声明。2015年9月习近平主席访美时，双方就气候变化问题签署了了第二份协议。作为全球最主要的两个排放国家，中美的协议对2015年11月在巴黎举行的气候峰会至关重要。吴大使又继续列举2015年伊朗核协议以及近期限制朝鲜导弹试验的合作，由此看出两国在合作中维护世界和平发展的努力。他呼吁人们不要只关注新闻中两国争端的报道，而要全面分析中美关系，特别是两国共同面对全球挑战的实例。吴大使还提出了重要一点，那就是有些问题可以在今天解决，但有些问题需要明天甚至后天才能解决。两国合作至关重要，同样重要的是鉴别什么问题是能够现在解决的，以此协调合作，这样有助于两国实现更现吴大使强调，中国与美国的双边关系极其重要以至于不容失败。他建议两国应“认识不同之处”，“开展对话”，“关注现今能够解决的问题”，“不要让两国的不同阻碍发展”，这些做法都有助于保持今后良好的发展关系。
此次活动的成功举办得到了全美华人协会，亚特兰大国际教育集团，卡特中心中国项目，埃默里大学全球化研究院，亚特兰大孔子学院等多个机构的大力支持。
晚宴中，全美华人协会主席李秀兰女士与吴建民大使亲切交谈。李主席向吴建民大使介绍了全美华人协会的情况：自创建以来，华协一如既往积极推动和促进中美间文化、经济、政治关系的发展，并发挥了关键作用。吴建民大使与大家分享了他的经历和对中美关系的理解，并对李秀兰女士长期以来为中美关系做出的贡献表示钦佩和深深感谢。
李秀兰女士是华协的创始人之一，三十五年来她全身心投入华协促进中美关系的事业，把华协这颗中美友好的种子浇灌成为了今天的参天大树。全美华人协会将坚持“构建中美桥梁、培养未来领袖、服务回馈社区”的三大宗旨，在今后的岁月中发挥更大的影响力 。