Steve Mull was a diplomat before joining the administration at UVA. He was ambassador to Poland and Lithuania, served in South Africa, Indonesia and the Bahamas, and based on 36 years with the State Department, he says the U.S. needs to have good working relations with China.
“It’s the most important diplomatic relationship in the world.”
He was dismayed that since 2020 students had stopped going there – first due to COVID, then due to politics. The State Department had issued a travel warning, suggesting it might not be safe. Students worried they might be subject to surveillance or arrest.
“So I went there back in May to try and get a take on what we might be able to do that would be safe and rewarding for our students and maybe help turn the corner in this relationship.”
He knew table tennis was popular in China and thought maybe a group of ping pong players from UVA could break the ice.
“The idea actually goes back to the initial round of ping pong diplomacy back in 1971 when the U.S. table tennis team made this surprise visit to China at a time when we had no relations at all," he recalls. "It was a huge sensation. It happened when I was a kid, and I still remember it to this day.”
Mull met with the U.S. Ambassador in Beijing and with counterparts at various universities who were excited to welcome a delegation of ping pong players from Virginia. Back in Charlottesville, students were equally enthusiastic. Forty applied for a dozen spots on the all-expense paid trip to Asia.
“We’re going to follow the footsteps of the original ping pong team – of the U.S. team in 1971," he explains. "We’ll start in Hong Kong for a couple of days. Then we’ll go to Beijing for four days, and then we’ll go on to Shanghai for another four days.”
One of those chosen to travel is Jie Lu, president of UVA’s table tennis club. She’s been playing since the age of 8 – coached by her father, who played professional ping pong in China before coming to the U.S. Today, he operates a club in Northern Virginia, and his daughter has taken top honors at university-level contests in the Commonwealth and the Southeastern United States.
She put no spin on her application. She’s hoping to pick up new tricks and techniques from the Chinese.
“That is their national sport, so they definitely have a lot of coaches, a lot of good training professionals, and I just want to learn from them.”
But that’s not the only reason she’s excited to make the trip.
“Number one the food – the authenticity of Chinese food. That’s my favorite cuisine. Also just meeting other students and just seeing how our cultures are different.”
Steve Mull warns that the students will do more than dine out and play ping pong. They’ll take classes, meet local experts and sit in on panel discussions, returning -- he hopes -- with a new appreciation for the most populous country in the world and this country’s largest trading partner.
“It’s really important that we develop a much better understanding of how China sees the world, what its motives are, what its interests are or where our interests coincide, and they do in things like mitigating climate change and global health issues certainly.”
Also on the itinerary for this ten-day trip – a visit to the Great Wall and the Forbidden City in Beijing and to the International Table Tennis Museum in Shanghai.
