Xi's proposal facilitating exchanges
China DailyMuscatine students learn how to make dumplings in Beijing during their 10-day trip to China in January. When asked about President Xi Jinping's ambitious proposal made last year to invite a total of 50,000 young people from the United States over a period of five years to visit China on exchange and study programs, Eric Foster, nephew of legendary journalist Edgar Snow's wife, Helen Foster Snow, said he strongly supports more exchanges of this kind. Foster, a US policy observer focused on China affairs, said that around 10 years ago, when he first came to China, the average American heard many bad things about the country because "the media in the West hardly gave any good news about China". Khan, noting that "in Chinese tradition, people and cultures play a significant role", said that Beijing's advocacy of people-to-people exchanges aims to drive countries to explore global civilization dialogue and cooperation, expand cooperation avenues and promote "mutual understanding among nations for the progress and prosperity of human civilization". Wang Huiyao, founder and president of the think tank Center for China and Globalization in Beijing, said: "the major country diplomacy with Chinese characteristics is now way richer at different levels, and the country's diplomacy does not rely solely on governmental efforts, but also on efforts in economic, cultural, subnational and think tank realms.