The Influence Of American Mainstream Media On Sino - American Table Tennis Diplomacy

The Ping-Pong Diplomacy opened the door which had isolated China and UnitedStates for20years. The term of “Ping-Pong Diplomacy” was first proposed by themedia. In the World Table Tennis Championships hosted by Japan in1971, a USAtable tennis player named Cohen mistakenly took the car of the Chinese team and theaccident was captured by sensitive media. As the prelude of the Ping-Pong Diplomacy,it attracted a great attention of the mainstream media around the world and promotedthe USA table tennis team’s visiting to China. The mainstream media around theworld, especially USA’s mainstream media widely reported the activities of the USAtable tennis team in China from April11to18of1971. As a result, American publicopinion was greatly impacted.The visit to China of the USA table tennis team does not guarantee the success ofthe Ping-Pong Diplomacy. Media played an important role in promoting the PingPong Diplomacy. It eliminated the barriers and built a bridge between the twocountries. Moreover, it served as a catalyst of the diplomatic interactions between theleaders of the two countries.As the main source for the public to access the information about China, sinceChina and the United States were isolated and personnel exchanges were interruptedfor many years, the primary role of the media is shaping the public opinion for theUnited States. Instead of the negative evaluation to China, the New York Times andWashington Post carried out detailed reports about the USA table tennis team, the firstUSA team visiting China after1949. These reports showed a positive and healthyimage of China to the American people and changed the American public opinionabout China, which was reflected by the support rate of whether to restore China’slegal status at the United Nations.The abroad mainstream media has also affected the diplomatic decisions ofChina and the United States. Through reporters and media, Chinese leaders conveyedtheir views on the major issues and sent messages to Nixon. A friendly image ofChina was displayed to the world. In additional, media reports, which were important references for diplomatic decisions, promoted Chairman Mao’s agreement for theUSA team to visit China. Through the influence of the media on public opinion, theUnited States government probed public reaction to the easing policies to China andthen applied successfully the policies.Under the promotion of the Ping-Pong Diplomacy, the relationship betweenChina and the United States was improved rapidly and substantially. Besides learningthe referential significance of the Ping-Pong Diplomacy, we should also noticedmedia’s specificity and limitations in the Ping-Pong Diplomacy, which weredetermined by the international and domestic environment.