China Vice Premier Visits Houston
HOUSTON, June 20, 2015—On Saturday, June 20, Asia Society Texas Center was honored to host China Vice Premier Madame Liu Yandong and her high ranking delegation, including Minister of Education Yuan Guiren and Minister of National Health Li Bin, on their first official visit to Texas. This was the highest ranking delegation to make its way to Houston since former President Jiang Zemin's visit in 2002.
Madame Liu greeted the audience of 350 with a warm "Howdy" before speaking about Houston's importance in furthering China-U.S. relations. Currently, there are 100 Houston-based companies operating in China and almost 800 Houston companies doing business with the country. Investment from China in the Houston market is also rapidly expanding. Madame Liu also noted that Houston has gained popularity in China because of Yao Ming's position for many years on the Houston Rockets. The former basketball player who was also a guest of honor at the banquet.
Houston was Madame Liu's second stop in the U.S. prior to joining the 6th China-U.S. High-Level Consultation on People-to-People Exchange in Washington D.C.