US-China relations: from Chiang Kai-shek to Joe Biden, a Chinese-American author’s first-hand experience of nations’ rivalry

The son of a Chinese general and former schoolmate of Chiang Kai-shek, Chi Wang experienced one of the most tumultuous periods in Chinese history

As head of the Chinese section of the Library of Congress for 47 years, he was active in the development of Sino-American relations

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Chi Wang with his Packard car in Maryland, the US. In his new memoir, Wang charts the highs and lows of China-US relations from 1949 to the present day. Photo: Courtesy Chi Wang

Published: 8:15pm, 11 Jun 2021Updated: 8:15pm, 11 Jun 2021

Chi Wang lives a quiet life in McLean, Virginia, near Washington, retired after 47 years working as the head of the Chinese section at the Library of Congress, and penning an occasional opinion piece for the South China Morning Post, mostly encouraging the United States and China to cultivate a better relationship.

“I know Biden, he is not the best choice at the moment,” he says, referring to current US president Joe Biden. “America needs a good leader. China has a good leader, but China, you can’t change much because the CCP is going to be there for a long time.” The CCP, the Chinese Communist Party, is led by President Xi Jinping.

Now 90 years old, Wang is in a unique position to speak of such things. His entire adult life has been spent in the United States, he knows US senators and he is the president of the US-China Policy Foundation. His pedigree gives him an interesting perspective on Sino-US relations.

A member of one of the many Chinese families that experienced massive political, social and economic upheaval in the 20th century, Wang is one of the few people left alive with a direct connection to the nation’s early circles of power.

Wang (second left) meets Jiang Zemin (right), then President of the People’s Republic of China, as Dr Henry Kissinger (left) looks on. Photo: Courtesy Chi Wang

His father was Wang Shu-chang, a respected general in the forces of the Kuomintang (KMT), or Nationalist Party, in China who had a long relationship with General Chiang Kai-shek, head of the KMT administration until its defeat by Mao Zedong’s Communists. The younger Wang saw first-hand the rapid changes that convulsed China until the spring of 1949, when he embarked on a long journey, full of lucky coincidences, from Beijing to the US to study.

Wang has written about his family story and his perspective on China-US relations in a memoir, A Compelling Journey from Peking to Washington: Building a New Life in America. The book is already in its second edition.