Committed to boosting ties
The trade across the Pacific Ocean between Hong Kong and the United States is not confined to things that can be loaded inside a shipping container. The US runs a number of programmes - some strictly by invitation only - to enhance international cultural exchanges.
The trade across the Pacific Ocean between Hong Kong and the United States is not confined to things that can be loaded inside a shipping container.
The US runs a number of programmes - some strictly by invitation only - to enhance international cultural exchanges.
"People-to-people ties are an important part of the United States' relationship with Hong Kong," says Clifford Hart Jnr, the US consul general to Hong Kong and Macau.
"Immigration and our history of educational and cultural exchange have fostered mutual understanding for generations. Hong Kong has long been one of the top per-capita sources of foreign students to America, and more than 8,000 people from Hong Kong are currently studying in the US.
"In the course of my duties as consul general, I interact regularly with people at all levels who have had the opportunity to experience America first-hand - whether as a student, exchange programme participant, or even a tourist - which affords them a deeper understanding of our society, history, and culture.
"I'm also proud of the work of the 100,000 Strong Foundation and others in increasing the number of American students coming to Hong Kong and China. We have clearly laid the foundations for our productive relationship to continue in the years to come."
Perhaps one of the United States' best-known exchanges is the Fulbright Program, which was founded by Senator J. William Fulbright in 1946.
It sets out to increase mutual understanding between the people of the US and other countries through study, teaching, and research, and via the exchange of ideas to contribute to finding solutions to shared international concerns.
Fulbright alumni include 78 Pulitzer Prize winners, 53 Nobel Prize winners, and 18 have served as head of state or government.
Equally wide-ranging, the International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) is the US Department of State's premier professional exchange programme. Through short-term visits - lasting about two to three weeks - to the United States, current and emerging foreign leaders in a variety of fields experience the US first-hand and cultivate lasting relationships with their American counterparts through professional meetings that reflect the participants' professional interests. IVLP participants are nominated and selected annually by the staff at US embassies and consulates around the world, and many former IVLP participants are prominent and current state leaders.
Less well-known, the Gilman Scholarship Program offers grants for US undergraduate students of limited financial means to pursue academic studies or credit-bearing, career-oriented internships abroad.
The programme aims to better prepare US students to assume significant roles in an increasingly global economy and interdependent world and encourages students to choose non-traditional study and intern destinations, especially those outside of Western Europe, Australia and New Zealand.
The Gilman programme supports students who have been traditionally underrepresented in education abroad, including students with high financial need, community college students, students in underrepresented fields such as the sciences and engineering, students with diverse ethnic backgrounds, and students with disabilities.
One of the more original exchanges is the Fulbright NatGeo Storytelling Program, which provides opportunities for US citizens to participate in an academic year of overseas travel and digital storytelling in two or three countries on a globally significant theme, and bring it to a global digital audience.
Participants produce stories that may use or combine text, photography, videos, audio, graphic illustrations, and social media for the purpose of producing content suitable for a National Geographic blog.
