看外电报道,胡锦涛主席此次访美能来芝加哥,中国驻芝加哥总领事馆杨国强总领事起到了关键性作用。
Smaller courses lead way to dinner with Chinese President Hu Jintao
China’s consul general to Chicago, Yang Guoqiang, key to big event
Melissa Harris CHICAGO CONFIDENTIAL
January 16, 2011
While the climax of the "big, big, big, big deal" (in Mayor Richard Daley’s words) that is Chinese President Hu Jintao’s visit to Chicago will occur Thursday night at a large dinner, a series of smaller, private events is laying the groundwork for the visit.
At his suburban home this weekend, Leo Melamed, chairman emeritus for CME Group, is hosting a "very small" dinner for Yang Guoqiang, China’s consul general to Chicago, to thank him for helping bring the president here.
"Without (Yang), it might not have happened," Melamed told my colleague Becky Yerak. "I believe the consul general of Chicago is highly regarded in China, and his opinion that the president should visit Chicago was a very influential factor."
Last week, Yang held a welcoming dinner for China’s foreign minister,Yang Jiechi, the equivalent of the U.S. secretary of state, at The Peninsula hotel. Twenty people attended, including Melamed, World Business Chicago President Rita Athas and China’s ambassador to the United States,Zhang Yesui.
As for Thursday’s gala at the Hilton Chicago, "the leadership of all of Chicago will be there," Melamed said. "It’s a measure of respect for Chicago and all of the work that Mayor Daley has done over the years to bring the Chinese world closer to our city."
Melamed serves on the board of the HuaMei Capital Co., the first U.S. financial services firm to be co-owned by Chinese interests.
Among the 500 to 600 guests who have accepted an invitation to the Hilton dinner: ITW Chief Executive David Speer; Caterpillar CEO Douglas Oberhelman; Motorola Solutions CEO Greg Brown; TransUnion Chairman Penny Pritzker; CME Executive Chairman Terrence Duffy; Henry Crown & Co. Chairman Lester Crown; former U.S. Sen. Adlai Stevenson III, who also serves on the board of HuaMei; Northern Trust CEO Frederick Waddell; Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association President Deborah Rutter; and Chicago-Shanghai Sister Cities Committee Chairmen Ray Chin and attorney William Spence, who leads Freeborn & Peters’ China practice group.
Oberhelman and Brown also will attend events in Washington.
"I got three calls from my friends (Thursday) morning saying, ‘Can you get me in?’" said Chin, a board member of the Chicago Chinatown Chamber of Commerce. "I said, ‘I don’t know; it’s a pretty hot ticket.’"