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北京大学英语新闻网/Peking University News
U.S. 1st Chinese Mayor Talking about
Cross-Straits Relationships at PKU
PKU NEWS 2006-3-13
http://ennews.pku.edu.cn/news.php?s=142472406
Peking University, Beijing, March 13th, 2006: On the evening of March 10th, Yingjie
Communication Center was full of anxious students. They were waiting for an
important person, the first Chinese mayor in the United States, DANIEL WONG.
Born in Hong Kong in 1943, Wong went to America in 1961 at the age of 18. He
received his doctorate in medicine there. In 1972, he started a clinic and helped
deliver more than 1,000 infants over six years. In 1978, Wong, then 35, made a
decision to run for the council of Cerritos City, and in 1984, he was elected the
country's first Chinese-American mayor.
While Wong was becoming popular in America, he started to gain fame in China
after a song "Offspring of the Dragon" he sang at 1985 Spring Festival gala
broadcasted by CCTV nationwide.
Wong has made exchanges between China and the United States his priority over
the past 20 years. He was the first American official to work on the scene during the
floods in China in 1998. He went to the flood-hit areas twice, and after returning to
the United States, launched a donation drive, asking American people to help China.
Wong's discourse on the trend of cross-Straits relationships lasted for an hour while
his usual humorous lecturing style was widely appreciated among the students.
Starting with a brief review of the history of Taiwan and the cause of Taiwan problem,
he went on to draw a comparison between the two sides of the Strait from various
angles such as Politics, Economics and Culture and presumed that there would be
no war between mainland and Taiwan. He further argued the reasons why China and
U.S. wouldn‘t fight against each other because of Taiwan from the viewpoint of an
American statesman. Finally, he reached the conclusion that it's the common
aspiration of compatriots on both sides of the Straits to seek peace, stability and
development and a peaceful reunification would be the major trend of the times.
Wong answered students' various questions about current hot-topics such as the
cross-Straits problem, the Sino-U.S. relationship and the unclear problem in DPRK
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