Saying Farewell to Mayor Garcetti at Beijing Airport

Sometimes work at the CPAFFC can be filled with many unexpected and joyful encounters. Last November 23， when I returned from a visit to New Zealand， my colleague asked me if I could see off Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti at Beijing Capital International Airport the next morning. When I agreed to go， I had no inkling it would turn out to be such an interesting and delightful experience.

Mayor Garcetti had been visiting at the invitation of the CPAFFC. Before coming to Beijing， he and his delegation visited Guangzhou， a sister city of Los Angeles.

Having ushered the Mayor into the VIP lounge at the Terminal 2， we exchanged greetings and swapped business cards. Apart from his normal card， he also gave me five of his exquisitely-made square-shape cards with Los Angeles landmarks such as Lax Airport， seaport， beaches， concert hall and Hollywood printed on the back. I gladly accepted them and found it hard to hide my pleasure of having collected such a treasure.

Elected officials in Western countries are known to be talkative， yet Mayor Garcetti is an exceptionally good conversationalist. Eloquent and well-informed， he is a rare communication master. He spoke of President Xi Jinping as a remarkable Chinese leader， whose foreign policy succeeded in helping China build an image of responsible major country in the international community.

China and the United States share a lot of common interests， he said. If our two countries work together， we can deal with many global issues such as climate change， pandemics in Africa and terrorism. Jointly chaired by then Vice President Xi Jinping and US Vice President Joe Biden， the US-China Governors’ Meeting held in LA in 2012 was a great success. Xi and Biden both delivered excellent speeches. Xi also talked about his personal experiences in the U.S.， which moved all present.

This was his first trip to China since his election. Although he had had high expectations， the outcome still far exceeded his expectations. His trip covered Guangzhou， Shenzhen， Shanghai and Beijing， each place offering a warm reception and hospitality. He visited companies such as Huawei， BYD， Tencent and Wanda and signed quite a few cooperation agreements.

He specially mentioned Mayor Chen Jianhua of Guangzhou， describing him as candid， friendly and full of charm. In a three-party event involving Guangzhou， L.A. and Auckland of New Zealand， Mayor Chen arranged artists to sing for foreign guests， while the Mayor of Auckland also showed his artistic talent. Mayor Garcetti promised to arrange for artists to sing for Mayor Chen on his reciprocal visit.

To address the challenge of climate change， the three cities signed a tripartite cooperation agreement， urging global efforts to save energy， reduce emissions and protect the environment.

Mayor Garcetti said， the weather had been just gorgeous during the couple of days he spent in Beijing. With no less of humor， he said that he had brought “LA Blue” to Beijing. He recalled that， when he was a child， the air in Los Angeles was so polluted his eyes were sometimes irritated to tears. Now， the city enjoys clean air. He hoped this experience would be of some help to Beijing. At present， his city is a member of the advisory committee of the “Global 40”； he hoped to help some Chinese cities join the advisory committee so as to make joint efforts to address climate change.

He also proposed a US-China mayoral conference on climate change be held in Annenburg during the coming seventh round of US-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue. Chinese Vice Premier Wang Yang and US Vice President Joe Biden would be invited to attend the opening ceremony. He hoped for CPAFFC assistance in this regard.

Apart from work-related topics， we also talked about our families. Pointing to an elderly man sitting next to him， Mayor Garcetti introduced him as his father， a lawyer， who had served as LA county district attorney and that in 1984 when he was 13 years old， he had visited China with his father. Their joint visit this time revealed a completely different China， however.

I was surprised to know that Mayor Garcetti took the Beijing subway all by himself and that during his stay in China he even learned to use WeChat and built WeChat friend-groups. He praised WeChat instant messaging system as really good and more convenient than Facebook， and added me as a WeChat friend. Right away he sent a photo of President Xi Jinping waving his hand and jested with me saying that President Xi was very satisfied with my work and was waving hello to us.

I could not sit still. I took out my mobile phone， handed it to my colleague， had a picture taken with the mayor and sent it to him through WeChat. At that moment， we were all busy sending or receiving messages.

On parting， I said to the mayor that since Los Angeles is the western gateway of the U.S.， there would be occasions that I would ask him for a favor to meet visiting Chinese delegations in the future. He readily agreed.

On my way home， I unexpectedly received a voice massage from Mayor Garcetti on WeChat： “Mr. Zhang， thank you for your hospitality. I look forward to seeing you again”.

The brief meeting at the airport with Mayor Garcetti left a deep impression on me. I could not help but asking myself a question： Is this the typical mayor of a metropolis of the 21st Century who is adroit at communicating and learning， capable and yet down-to-earth？ This is certainly a question worth pondering.