Media Note
Office of the Spokesperson
Washington, DC
September 7, 2012

Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs Mike Hammer will travel to Asia from September 10 to 15. He will visit Ulaanbaatar, Beijing, and Hong Kong.

Assistant Secretary Hammer will meet with government representatives to discuss ongoing media issues. He will also meet with members of the media, students, and NGOs to discuss American public diplomacy, press freedom, internet freedom and freedom of expression.

For further information, please contact Amanda Mansour at MansourAJ@state.gov or (202) 647-6088, or visit www.state.gov/p/eap.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is traveling to Turkey, Greece, India, Indonesia, Hong Kong, and China. The Secretary will participate in a live stream event from Hong Kong to discuss “Principles for Prosperity in the Asia Pacific.” The event will be streamed live approximately at 12:00 a.m. (EDT) Sunday, July 24/ 9:00 p.m. (PDT) on Monday, July 25. more »

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will travel to Turkey July 15-16, 2011, to participate in meetings of the Contact Group on Libya and conduct bilateral meetings with Turkish officials. The Contact Group meetings allow the international community to come together and coordinate views on our next steps with respect to Libya. They also allow us to further assess international progress in implementing UNSCRs 1970 and 1973 as part of our efforts to protect civilians and to facilitate the start of an inclusive Libyan national dialogue that will lead to the country’s reconciliation and reconstruction. While in Turkey the Secretary will also meet with President Gul, Prime Minister Erdogan, Foreign Minister Davutoglu and other political leaders to discuss Libya, Syria, and a full range of shared bilateral and multilateral issues.

Secretary Clinton will travel to Greece… more »

About the Author: Beatrice Camp serves as U.S. Consul General at the U.S. Consulate in Shanghai, China.

Forty years ago this week, a small U.S. delegation visited China to help ease tensions between Washington and Beijing through rather unorthodox means. On April 10, 1971, nine American table tennis players, four officials, two spouses, and 10 journalists crossed a bridge from Hong Kong into mainland China to usher in the age of “Ping Pong Diplomacy.” Eight days of cultural exchange contributed to a thaw in bilateral relations. In February 1972, President Richard Nixon traveled to the People’s Republic of China. At a welcome banquet in Beijing, Premier Zhou Enlai praised the U.S. table tennis team for opening “a new chapter in the relations of the American and Chinese people.”

New chapters in this relationship are being written every day. During the second annual U.S.-China Consultation on People-to-People Exchange (CPE), Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and… more »