Consulate General of China in Chicago pays visit to MSU

One of the most significant people involved in the U.S.’s relationship with the People’s Republic of China shared his thoughts with students Friday morning on U.S-Chinese trade and what the future holds for both countries.

Huang Ping, the Consulate General of China in Chicago, came to MSU as part of a trip around the region, and said he chose to speak at MSU to acknowledge the university’s role in U.S.-Chinese relations.

Ping has duties similar to those of an ambassador and oversees many Midwestern states, including Michigan.

The lecture was intended to help Americans relate to some of the university’s 2,000 students from China, said Chuang Pei, a finance senior and president of the Chinese Undergraduate Student Association, which hosted the event.

“We were raised by different cultures and different environments,” Pei said. “There is always some misconceptions or misunderstandings because of that.”

The People’s Republic of China was established in 1949, and the country has benefitted from its relationship with America, Ping said. Since the country opened up trade with the U.S., 60,000 American companies have transitioned to the Chinese market, which has helped make China’s economy the third largest in the world.

Finance junior Shien Aiu is one of many students who have benefited from that open exchange because he has been able to receive an American education at MSU. Aiu said he could get a similar education at home in China, but he wanted to help be a part of a relationship between the two countries.

“We can help build the bridge between the two countries, to expand the different opinions, to eliminate some misunderstandings between the two countries,” he said.

Although China has seen an economic boom, many in the country still have trouble affording schools or feeding their families, Ping said.

“When you take a broad look at the picture of China, you see development is quite imbalanced,” Ping said at the lecture. “No matter how big the cake you have, if you divide it with 1.3 billion people, everyone gets a very tiny, small piece.”

The key to the U.S. and China having a cooperative relationship comes from mutual understanding, Ping said. Both countries have made great strides in the ways they understand the other, which will pay dividends in the future, he said.

“We have problems too, but we have established institutional mechanisms to deal with those problems,” he said. “China and the U.S. are so different in many ways. Problems will come out from this relationship. You need to have the mechanisms to deal with it to solve the problems.”