From the very beginning, Washington treated Martin Lee Chu-ming well. Some 25 reporters packed the Harry Truman lounge at the prestigious National Press Club last Wednesday to hear Hong Kong's voice of the people give a press conference - the same room where, a little over two years ago, he had attracted only eight members of the media.
But as he began speaking, Mr Lee felt obliged to point out that, contrary to the billing given him by the club, he was not 'president of the Legislative Council', even if, as leader of the territory's biggest party, some might wish to ascribe such greatness to him.
Before his arrival, Mr Lee's promotion had been even greater; a staff member at the Club, when pinning details of the event on the notice board, had dropped all references to Legco, leaving Martin Lee with the simple title, 'President of Hong Kong'.
'Mr Patten would not be pleased,' quipped the guest speaker, referring to the Governor, whose own lobbying trip to the US capital follows next week. 'But at least he's getting lunch.' That much is true. In contrast to Mr Lee's relatively modest breakfast session at the club, Chris Patten will be granted the spotlight of the club's daily lunchtime speech - a fact picked up by the Wall Street Journal, which in an angry editorial, lumped the club in with the White House as perpetrators of a conspiracy to deny Mr Lee his rightful audience in Washington.
Even though at the time of writing there was no word from the White House of any meetings scheduled for Mr Lee, the idea that the city was not opening its arms for him could not have been further from the truth.
President Clinton's failure to greet either Mr Lee or his deputy, Yeung Sam, was hardly a surprise, but got whipped into a well-orchestrated controversy which Mr Lee skilfully declined to douse and which stirred the interest of other media.
