Chinese players attend event marking 53 years of Ping Pong Diplomacy

Hundreds of Chinese and Americans, including Chinese table tennis icons Ma Long and Liu Shiwen, gathered in Los Angeles County's Pacific Palms Resort on Sunday to commemorate the 53rd anniversary of China-U.S. "Ping-Pong Diplomacy."

In April 1971, nine players from the U.S. Table Tennis team took a historic trip to China, becoming the first delegation of Americans to visit China in decades.

Their trip was the beginning of what became known as "Ping-Pong Diplomacy," and helped lay the groundwork for the establishment of official diplomatic relations between the Peoples' Republic of China and the United States. The legacy also led to improved people-to-people understanding and cultural exchanges between the two countries.

At the celebration event, Ma Long, who has claimed six Olympic gold medals, and fellow Olympic champion Liu Shiwen played friendly matches with Connie and Dell Sweeris, who were both members of the U.S. table tennis team in 1971, as well as young players of the current U.S. table tennis team.

Ma expressed his admiration for the older generation of U.S. players for their enduring passion and love for table tennis.

"You can feel that after all these years, they still have such a deep affection for table tennis. Their love for the sport is still there, and when they were younger, they knew every player on the Chinese team as if they were a family. So I think this friendship has always been maintained," Ma said.

Liu described playing matches with both the older and younger generations of U.S. table tennis players as a truly unique experience.

"It feels quite surreal. I can imagine the scene of them fighting hard on the court in the past. And when we were playing against each other, I felt it was a manifestation and continuation of the spirit of table tennis," she said.

This year's celebration event was attended by representatives from the Chinese Olympic Committee and the Chinese Table Tennis Association. Gene Sykes, Chair of the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee Board of Directors, along with other senior representatives from the International Table Tennis Federation and USA Table Tennis, also attended the event.

Chinese players attend event marking 53 years of Ping Pong Diplomacy

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) estimated that daily fish catches in the Gaza Strip between October 2023 and April 2024 dropped to only 7.3 percent of that of 2022, which is expected to further worsen the food insecurity and famine risks in the region.

According to Ahmed El-Ejla, project coordinator at Al-Tawfiq Cooperative Society for Fisheries, many fishing boats, nets and conservation facilities were destroyed in the latest round of the Israel-Hamas conflict which broke out in October last year.

"Fishermen in Gaza are supposed to catch 15 to 20 tons of fish on a daily basis during this season. However, they would only catch 2 to 5 kilograms of fish everyday as of now," he said.

Khaled Radwan Ahmad Al-Laham, a 35-year-old fisher from Khan Younis who previously benefited from the marine cage farms within the FAO project, was able to make a living. He said the war had destroyed his life, and left local fishers in huge losses "We were able to get by before the war. The sea provided us with a source of income and employment. We were satisfied and getting by as everything just went fine. However, the war broke out and brought an end to everything." he said.

Israeli forces have imposed a fishing ban over adjacent waters off the Gaza Strip, which restricted the entry of local fishers, leaving most fishermen without an access to the sea for fishing.

Even if they fish in near-shore waters, fishermen still face great security risks.

"Most of the fishermen mention that their assets, their vessels, all of their belongings have been destroyed during the war. They cannot access the sea."said Wael Aldaya, FAO fisheries project manager.

Local fishers hope that they can reach the waters as early as possible to continue their normal lives. "My wish is that they could open the sea for us, so we can go fishing safely. Then I hope they would provide us with fishing supplies, like nets, fiberglass and these things, so we can survive on our own," said Khaled Radwan Ahmad Al-Laham, a local fisher. .

Gaza's fishing industry hit hard in latest round of Israel-Hamas conflict