Beijing, January 13, 2005 - Secretary of Commerce Donald Evans and US Ambassador to China Clark Randt took time today to hold a private meeting with Special Olympics athlete Judy Yang, and Special Olympics East Asia staff members George Smith and Trish Smith. The meeting took place immediately prior to Secretary Evans' keynote presentation to the American Chamber of Commerce and US-China Business Council Breakfast and was made possible through the efforts of the US Embassy Commercial Office. Judy spoke to Secretary Evans about her experiences in Special Olympics and the upcoming 2007 Special Olympics World Summer Games. This is the second time Mr. Evans has met with Special Olympics groups in China. In June, 2004 he visited the Chaoyang Special Education School in Beijing to observe a local Special Olympics program. While there he joined athletes in several sports and also participated in an athlete-led press conference.

Judy Yang gave Secretary Evans an autographed copy of the Seventeen Magazine in which she was featured as well as a copy of I Am Proud, a book of photographs of Special Olympics athletes taken by renowned photographer Richard Corman.