A year before President Richard Nixon made his celebrated trip to China to thaw a 22-year diplomatic freeze, another group of "diplomats" was also making history.

In April 1971, the US table tennis team arrived in China at the invitation of the Chinese national ping pong team. The visit proved to be a major step toward normalizing strained bilateral ties between the countries, and came to be seen as the first leg of what the media dubbed "ping-pong diplomacy".

Among them was US Table Tennis Hall of Fame inductee George Braithwaite, who recalled the team's shock at being invited to China after it had just completed a two-week, tournament-winning tour of Japan in early 1971.

"Everybody knew there was a cold war between the two countries that had lasted two decades," he said in an interview with China Daily. "We did not know what would happen or what we should do during the visit, so we just crossed our fingers."

Other members of the American team included Connie Sweeris, Rufford Harrison, Tim Boggan, Dick Miles and Judy Hoarfrost, who was only 15. Upon their arrival, the Americans were surrounded by Chinese fans and warmly welcomed by Premier Zhou Enlai.

"This is a brand new page for China-US relations," Zhou said.

"After a couple of days, we were able to relax and handle ourselves as true ping-pong diplomats," recalled Braithwaite, now 78.

The team members climbed the Great Wall, and visited Tsinghua University and other tourist sites. They took photos everywhere they went.

"I am still keeping the picture where I was shaking hands with Premiere Zhou Enlai," Braithwaite said. "I will cherish it for the rest of my life."

In 1972, a few months after Nixon's trip, China's National Table Tennis Team made a reciprocal visit to the US to complete the circle of round of ping-pong diplomacy.

The Chinese delegation was led by three-time world champion Zhuang Zedong, and consisted of 13 players, eight reporters and photographers, four interpreters and seven senior officials. Nixon hosted the group at the White House.

"We were extremely happy about the reunion," Braithwaite said.

In the intervening years, he has watched the relationship between the US and China develop.

"It's just such a blessing to witness how the bilateral ties evolved in the past decades," he said. "Over the years, when I have made speeches at community centers or colleges, I have always emphasized the fact that, oftentimes when diplomats or diplomacy have failed, sports has succeeded."

Before joining the US team, Braithwaite was a medalist for Guyana in track relay and sprinting at the 1958 Caribbean Games. In 1959, he migrated to New York and began working at the United Nations during the General Assembly. He discovered the UN's Table Tennis Club by chance.

"During the winter season in New York, it was too cold to practice track-and-field outdoors, so I decided to find myself a new hobby to keep fit," he said. "It wasn't too big a challenge for me to make the transition because from sprinting I maintained good mobility, which is necessary for playing table tennis."

Later, Zhuang Zedong told Braithwaite: "An athlete can stay around for a long time in life if he or she can maintain strong legs."

Braithwaite, who looks younger than 78, still does calisthenics, runs 30-yard sprints and jogs regularly.

The legacy of ping-pong diplomacy has given the veteran player enduring enthusiasm for his sport as well as a range of activities aimed at strengthening China-US relations.

In late August, Braithwaite, along with former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger and National Committee on United States-China Relations vice-president Jan Berris, spoke at a ceremony commemorating the ping-pong team trips. At the event, in the Chinese consulate in New York. Braithwaite also played a friendly game against Consul General Sun Guoxiang.

He recently attended a flag-raising on Wall Street to celebrate 40 years of diplomatic relations between China and the US. Braithwaite continues to serve as a board member of the Sino-American Friendship Association, a nonprofit organization that promotes Chinese culture and China-US ties.

"It wasn't an easy journey for either side," he said. "And it's extremely important for me to maintain that spirit and a friendly relationship with China not only because it is the top-level country in table tennis around the world and gives us a reason to work hard, but also to spread the word around so that aspiring players would have a great role model to go by."

He said he will continue to promote that relationship.

"I was a ping-pong diplomat four decades ago, and I'm still one now."

liuyuhan11@chinadailyusa.com

(China Daily 11/09/2012 page9)