Confucius visas resolved

When Fang Maotian entered the meeting room at the State Department on May 24, he was surprised and overwhelmed by the size of the United States' team.

Led by Robin J. Lerner, deputy assistant secretary for private sector exchange at the State Department, there were more than a dozen US officials waiting for urgent consultations with Fang, minister counselor for education affairs at the Chinese Embassy in the US, and his two colleagues.

With tension mounting over a confusing visa directive concerning Chinese language teachers in the US, the two sides had quickly reached out for dialogue and successfully found a solution within a couple of days to avoid any further misunderstanding.