Chinese Vice Premier Liu Yandong (left) and Susan Thornton, U.S. Acting Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, meet at a reception at the Chinese Embassy in Washington, Sept 27, 2017. (Photo by Zhao Huanxin/chinadaily.com.cn)
Susan Thornton, U.S. Acting Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, has a beautiful Chinese name: Dong Yunshang, which literally means "cloud clothes".
When she greeted visiting Chinese Vice Premier Liu Yandong on Wednesday night in Washington, her fluent Mandarin and her name immediately impressed the visitor.
"You speak Chinese very well. And what a pretty name," Liu said.
The vice premier was attending a reception at the Chinese Embassy to mark the 68th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, as well as the first China-U.S. Social and People-to-People Dialogue, scheduled for Thursday.
The dialogue will be co-chaired by Liu and U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.
Liu told Thornton she had learned about her in reports, but was meeting her for the first time. "Let's have a hug," the vice-premier said.
And so they did.
"Let's run the social and people-to-people dialogue well," Liu said.
Thornton agreed.
"Certainly, we have a lot of things to do together, and Secretary Tillerson and I will meet you (again) tomorrow," she said, in standard Mandarin.
"I think the vice-premier is very excited about the dialogue. She was so happy about it, she gave me a hug," Thornton told China Daily later Wednesday night.
"We worked so hard on the arrangement," Thornton added. "She seems very down-to-earth and sincere, and we will be meeting tomorrow."
