by ALEX P. VIDAL
CHICAGO, Illinois — When war was still raging in Vietnam and the Cold War was entering its 26th year in April 1971 or 37 years ago, a Pan Am 707 landed in Detroit, Michigan, carrying the People’s Republic of China’s world champion table tennis team for a series of matches and tours in 10 cities around the United States.
Smithsonian’s David A. DeVoss recalled that the era of Ping-Pong diplomacy had begun 12 months earlier when the American team—in Nagoya, Japan, for the World Table Tennis Championship—got a surprise invitation from their Chinese colleagues to visit the People’s Republic. Time magazine called it "The ping heard round the world." And with good reason: no group of Americans had been invited to China since the Communist takeover in 1949.
Why had they been invited? DeVoss said the Chinese felt that by opening a door to the United States, they could put their mostly hostile neighbors on notice about a possible shift in alliances. The United States welcomed the opportunity; President Richard M. Nixon had written: "We simply cannot afford to leave China outside the family of nations."
Soon after the U.S. team’s trip, Nixon, not wanting to lose momen-tum, secretly sent Secretary of State Henry Kissinger to Peking to arrange a Presidential visit to China. Nixon’s journey seven months later, in February 1972, became one of the most important events in U.S. postwar history. "Never before in history has a sport been used so effectively as a tool of international diplomacy," said Chinese Premier Chou En-lai. For Nixon, it was "the week that changed the world."
In February 2002, President George W. Bush, in his second trip to China, recalled the meeting that came out of Ping-Pong diplomacy, telling President Jiang Zemin: "Thirty years ago this week, President Richard Nixon showed the world that two vastly different governments could meet on the grounds of common interest and in a spirit of mutual respect."
BADMINTON IN IRAN
Despite its critical diplomatic relationship with Iran, the US Department of State’s Bureau of Edu-cational and Cultural Affairs sent a delegation of 12 Americans, including eight female athletes, coaches, and managers representing USA Badminton, to Tehran, Iran, from February 3-9th.
The team competed in the Fajr International Badminton Tournament at the invitation of the Iranian Badminton Federation.
From pingpong, US will embark on another peaceful mission through badminton in a hostile territory in a bid to improve its relationship with the Islamic country which has blamed the West for its various problems.
Celebrating its 19th year, the Fajr Tournament is a respected international badminton event and an opportunity to compete against talented teams from many countries, including Iran. Teams representing 16 countries plan to compete in the Iranian tournament, scheduled for February 5-8th. The Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and USA Badminton look forward to hosting the Iranian Bad-minton Federation for the U.S. Open in July.
The visit is reportedly part of the US’s "people-to-people" exchanges with Iran.
Since 2006, the US has included Iranians in a range of educational, professional, and cultural exchange programs. In the past two years, over 250 Iranians, including artists, athletes, and medical professionals, have participated in exchange programs in the United States.
Through its Sports United program, the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs has brought the Iranian National Teams for Basketball, Water Polo, Weightlifting, and mem-bers of the men’s and women’s National Table Tennis teams to the United States. The US also sent 20 members of USA Wrestling to Iran to compete in the prestigious Takhti Cup in January 2007. /MP
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