More dialogue helps to improve understanding
Print Edition
Hanscom Smith has been a regular traveler to China ever since he first visited Shanghai in 1998. Before his current posting as the United States consul general in Shanghai, he has been stationed in various cities including Cameroon’s capital Yaounde, Copenhagen, Phnom Penh, Bangkok, Kabul and Beijing.
That’s a diverse mix and it’s something this American diplomat appreciates although he also takes pride in his home country, where he enjoys road trips that feature a variety of regional landscapes, cultures and cuisines. This variety is also a key message he wants to promote to Chinese visitors and partners.
“We are a huge country just like China, and we want to make certain that everyone has access to a great deal of information about what the options are in the United States, because there is so much diversity and opportunities to be explored,” the Maine native told Shanghai Daily at the Shanghai American Center last week.
Smith started his post last September, just shortly before US President Barack Obama announced the ground-breaking extension of visa validity to Chinese visitors. American visas have always been one of the most desired by Chinese, but at the same time considered one of the toughest to get. Now, Chinese tourists and business travelers can get a 10-year visa while students can apply for a five-year one. In six months starting from last October, over 1 million US visas have been issued across China.
“It’s fantastic to see so many people from here go to the US to travel, to study, and to do business,” the consul general said.
“People to people exchange is really the foundation of the future of our relationship, and the new visa validity really helps to improve that. We hope as people go to the US, whether for the first time or the 10th time, they understand they can always discover something new.”
For those traveling to America, he recommended exploring smaller places or taking a road trip, especially to some lesser-known historical cities and national parks.
The consul general has traveled to all the provinces in the region and many other places across China before he was first stationed in Beijing in 2005. He kept returning as a regular traveler to China ever since his first visit to Shanghai in 1998.
“This is a fantastic city, so energetic, lively, and dynamic,” he recalled. “I really like the city’s feeling of openness and its economic dynamism. It’s an economic hub and an important foothold in China and in the region. So it is really an exciting opportunity to be here to help support the US presence.”
He also enjoys the city’s walkability. Smith often takes a 90-minute to two-hour stroll from his residence in Xujiahui to the Bund, where so much can be discovered on the way.
Since he arrived, Smith has also found Chinese people curious, supportive and interested in real conversations, even about domestic American issues such as the recent Supreme Court ruling that legalized same-sex marriages.
“It is very interesting to learn more about the views of our counterparts here in China, because we confront many of the same issues,” he said.
It is also his hope to use all possible channels to share information and have a dialogue with Chinese, including engaging them with social media. For example, a new education app has been made available on the consulate’s website, designed specifically for Chinese students — now the single biggest group of foreign students in the US — to get more information about the range of American schools on offer.
Similar efforts have also been made to convey diverse opportunities in business, environment, tourism, and investment, among other aspects that are vital to the bilateral relations of the countries with the two biggest economies in the world.
“What’s so interesting about the US-China relationship is its importance and the fact that it really encompasses so many issues and is still developing,” he continued.
“Secretary of State Kerry has said the US-China relationship is the most consequential, and Ambassador Baucus has said we really have to get this right, because it is so important. So regardless of what the issue is, there is room for the United States and China to work together closely.”
As President Xi Jinping prepares for his state visit in September, the bilateral relationship is expected to take a further step forward. Smith also listed some of the issues he considers priorities in the East China region, including “entrepreneurship — something we excel at and is also increasingly becoming important here in Shanghai — diversity, transparency, and finally climate, a top priority that both our countries share.
“The US and China are two of the world’s biggest carbon emitters, so we work hard to showcase the really fantastic green technology that America has to offer, and look at ways in which the two countries can cooperate more closely to address the shared challenge of climate change and sustainability.”
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