VZCZCXRO8175
RR RUEHCN RUEHGH RUEHVC
DE RUEHBJ #3578/01 1490321
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 290321Z MAY 07
FM AMEMBASSY BEIJING
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 8358
INFO RUEHOO/CHINA POSTS COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 BEIJING 003578 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR IRM/BPC/EDIP (NIBLOCK AND SHINKMAN) 
STATE FOR EAP/PD 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: CH KPAO KIIP
SUBJECT: ZHENGZHOU WELCOMES EMBASSY'S FIRST VIRTUAL PRESENCE POST IN 
CHINA 
 
SUMMARY 
------- 
 
¶1. (SBU) The China Mission launched its first Virtual Presence Post 
(VPP) in Henan Province's Zhengzhou city during a major commercial 
Expo in the city.  Despite local officials' initial uncertainty, the 
media and residents of Zhengzhou welcomed the new initiative, which 
built on more than a year of increased exchanges with the city and 
Province.  The VPP website received overwhelmingly positive coverage 
in print, television, radio, and Internet media.  The Embassy's 
newly formed "Team Zhengzhou," consisting of 15 representatives from 
several sections and agencies, will need to continue to work 
creatively to build confidence with those local government officials 
and institutions still unsure of how to react to this new 
initiative.  End Summary. 
 
EXPANDING OUTREACH IN ZHENGZHOU 
------------------------------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) Located on the banks of the Yellow River in Central China, 
Zhengzhou boasts a population of more than three million residents. 
Though dwarfed by some of China's mega cities (Wuhan, for example, 
soon to be the site of the first APP in China, is nearly three times 
larger), Zhengzhou is a major provincial capital.  Henan province 
has nearly 100 million people, ranks fifth in GDP among China's 
provinces and municipalities, and has enjoyed 14-plus percent 
economic growth in each of the past three years.  In 2006, the 
Ambassador identified Zhengzhou as one of the Embassy's top ten 
outreach targets, and Embassy officers from ECON, PAS, FCS, ESTH, 
and other sections traveled there frequently during the year. 
Economic Officers paid four visits to Zhengzhou in 2006.  The Deputy 
Chief of the Economic Section traveled to the city in July, and the 
Econoff with the provincial economy portfolio visited in January, 
April, and November.  This officer's established expertise led to 
the DCM naming him (with strong support from the Econ Section) as 
the Virtual Principal Officer (VPO). 
 
¶3. (SBU) The pro-engagement attitudes of municipal and provincial 
officials also had an impact on our decision to make Zhengzhou the 
place to begin our VPP effort.  Outreach in China can be difficult 
because most meetings or outreach must first be approved by the 
Provincial Foreign Affairs Office (FAO).  This has been less of a 
problem in Henan, where we enjoy generally cordial relations with 
provincial officials and benefit from a helpful FAO Americas Desk 
Director. 
 
PAVING THE WAY FOR THE VPP 
-------------------------- 
 
¶4. (SBU) In March, Embassy formed "Team Zhengzhou," 15 
representatives from several sections and agencies.  To conserve 
resources, Team Zhengzhou's core team of the Econoff VPP Principal 
Officer, Transformational Diplomacy Officer and PAS staff decided to 
launch the site initially as a Chinese-only site, "Meiguo Jiaoliu 
Zai Xian Zhongguo Zhengzhou" or "American Exchange On-Line, 
Zhengzhou, China."  Because State.gov sites are often blocked or 
filtered in China, the site follows the common practice for Embassy 
and Consulate websites in China of having a mirror site provided by 
a local Internet Service Provider as well. (The URLs are 
http://zhengzhou.usvpp.gov and 
http://zhengzhou.usembassy-china.org.cn.)  Having the second website 
allows easier access to the site by residents in Zhengzhou. 
 
¶5. (SBU) Embassy officers then began populating the site with 
content, including a welcome letter from the Ambassador on the front 
page (which was warmly received in Zhengzhou and remains on the 
front page), links to business and visa information and a regular 
blog (in Chinese) by the VPO.  This blog, "Mo Lei Zai Naar" (Where 
is Murray?) offers Zhengzhou netizens an informal opportunity to get 
to know an Embassy official through regular postings about visits to 
Henan Province and Henan-related news.  Our goal is to post weekly 
entries about exchanges between the United States and Henan 
Province.  Although the site is for the moment Chinese-only, also 
includes an "English Salon" aimed at students. 
 
A SUCCESSFUL LAUNCH 
------------------- 
 
¶6. (SBU) Although it would be difficult for local officials to block 
the site altogether, we were concerned that they could make it very 
difficult to operate if they so chose.  In early April, the VPO 
informed the Henan Provincial FAO about our intention to "go live" 
to coincide with Zhengzhou's hosting of the Central China Expo, a 
major economic and commercial event.  Perhaps aware that opposing 
the site would run counter to the Expo's goal of trumpeting the 
degree to which Henan is open to the outside world, the FAO offered 
no complaints.  The site went live during the last week of April, 
unblocked and unfiltered. 
 
BEIJING 00003578  002 OF 003 
 
 
 
¶7. (SBU) The success of the media outreach was far from certain at 
the outset.  The FAO initially denied Emboffs permission to contact 
media organizations directly, insisting that it would do so. 
Consumed with Expo-related work, though, they did nothing.  With no 
go-ahead from the FAO and unsure how to respond to the VPP 
initiative, Henan People's Radio took the "safe" path, declining our 
request for an on-air interview and forcing a partner radio station 
to cancel one already scheduled.  Finally, after determined effort 
by our press officers, the FAO relented, giving us the green light 
to make our own media arrangements. 
 
¶8. (SBU) With the FAO out of the way, the local media were happy to 
discuss and promote the website.  The VPO, Press Officer, and 
Consular Officer gave several interviews on April 25.  The Chinese 
language "Jin Ri An Bao" newspaper gave a glowing endorsement of the 
website in an April 26 article entitled "American Exchange On-Line, 
Especially for Henan," later picked up by Internet media.  Henan 
People's Radio's popular Tourism Show interviewed the VPO on April 
26, and Emboffs also gave interviews to Henan TV, Henan People's 
Radio, and "Da He" News to spread the word about the website. 
Indeed, "Da He" was so taken with the site that they arranged a 
one-hour web chat with the VPO on Da He's Internet provider.  The 
Chinese participants were particularly appreciative that the VPO 
gave all his interviews, and typed his web chat responses, in 
Chinese.  Several other Henan online media organizations and a 
nationwide web portal picked up the Da He web chat, reprinting the 
information on their own websites and portals.  The web chat was 
reedited and republished by http://forum.china.com.cn, 
http://news.shangdu.com, and http://news.sohu.com.)  Team Zhengzhou 
will continue to work creatively to build confidence with those 
local government officials and institutions still unsure how to 
react to the new initiative, as was demonstrated by the early media 
outreach hiccups. 
 
FUTURE PLANS 
------------ 
 
¶9. (SBU) VPP Zhengzhou will focus primarily on outreach to students, 
businessmen and cultural and educational organizations in Henan 
Province.  As in other areas of China, visa outreach is especially 
welcome in Henan, and a Consular Officer who took part in the 
kickoff met with students at SIAS[DoS1] University in Zhengzhou on 
April 27.  The business community in Zhengzhou is interested in 
increasing links with American businessmen, and FCS, along with the 
American Chamber of Commerce and United States-China Business 
Council (USCBC), will work together to provide more information 
relevant to Zhengzhou. 
 
¶10. (SBU) We expect that cultural issues may be the area of greatest 
interest in Henan.  The province is home to many cultural and 
historic sites, including the Shaolin Temple and Longmen Grottoes, 
and Henan residents are justifiably proud of their history.  The VPP 
Website, therefore, will explore opportunities for cultural exchange 
such as teaching English or links to Henan Province's Sister State 
of Kansas and Zhengzhou's Sister City of Richmond, Virginia. 
 
¶11. (SBU) The Mo Lei Zai Naar Blog also will focus on culture, 
especially highlighting Americans' interest in Henan's culture and 
history.  Emboffs' knowledge of Henan's culture became the focus and 
primary interest of several of the media interviews as well as the 
April 26.  By saying that we are still learning about Henan's 
culture while also naming the cultural and historic places of 
interest that we recognize, Emboffs will make significant progress 
towards improving mutual understanding between the United States and 
Zhengzhou and Henan Province. 
 
ON THE RIGHT TRACK 
------------------ 
 
¶12. (SBU) Maintaining sufficient contact with Zhengzhou both 
in-person and on-line and also keeping fresh content on the VPP 
website will be challenges for Team Zhengzhou.  We are on the right 
track to promoting a more positive image of the United States with 
the people of China's most populous province.  We fully expect to 
have problems with risk-averse local officials as we use new means 
to reach out to students, businesspeople, and ordinary citizens, but 
are confident that this kind of expanded exchange will benefit 
Zhengzhou and Henan Province as well as the United States.  Embassy 
is grateful to IIP and E-Diplomacy for their support of this 
project. 
 
¶13. (SBU) One of Team Zhengzhou's key tasks is to assess the 
resource implications of a broader VPP effort.  VPP Zhengzhou was 
opened without any new resources but, with more than 150 cities in 
China with more than one million residents, this model is not 
sustainable for an expanded program.  While our program is designed 
to take advantage of economies of scale, mounting the kind of effort 
 
BEIJING 00003578  003 OF 003 
 
 
needed to do justice to the Secretary's transformational diplomacy 
vision in China will require significant new resources, in the form 
of personnel, computer software, hardware, and training, and public 
diplomacy programming.  We have identified some of these 
requirements in our latest Rightsizing report and MSP submission, 
and will continue to refine these projections as we better 
understand the challenges we face. 
 
PICCUTA