While in Nagoya, Song Zhong of the Chinese delegation met with Steenhoven, manager of the U.S. delegation, who told him that on the eve of its departure the U.S. State Department had decided to lift all restrictions on travels to China for holders of American passports. Song said that this meant they might be able to meet someday in Beijing. Steenhoven said that American players had much to learn from Chinese players if they had the chance to visit China.
The conversation was immediately reported back to China, where a daily bulletin was published about the news from Nagoya, with copies sent to Zhou and Mao and to the Foreign Ministry. Upon hearing the news about the conversation, Mao ordered that five telephone calls instead of three be made to Nagoya every day.
On April 1, across the Pacific, Henry Kissinger read a memorandum from the State Department in which Zhou was reported to have told former Japanese foreign minister Fujiyama Aiichiro that there might be a sudden turn for the better sometime in the relations between China and the United States, and that China had taken notice of the American president using the formal name of china for the first time. The memorandum also mentioned Snow's conversations with Mao and Zhou. But the State Department concluded that because of the war in Indochina there was no prospect for immediate improvement in the Sino-U.S. relations.
In Beijing, after a careful study of the reports from Nagoya, the Foreign Ministry held that in inviting Americans to China, first consideration should be given to influential journalists and politicians. In a report written jointly by the Foreign Ministry and the State Commission for Physical Culture and Sports on April 4, it was suggested that the Chinese table tennis delegation in Nagoya tell the American team that the time was not yet ripe for it to visit China. The report was sent to Zhou and Mao.
By then the Chinese and American table tennis players had come into contact on more than one occasion and exchanged souvenirs, which had made a sensation in the world press. The American players had expressed their wish to visit China.
Mao was well informed of what had happened in Nagoya. He decided to invite the American players immediately. On April 7, the Chinese delegation received a directive from home: "considering that the American team has made the request many times with friendly enthusiasm, it has been approved to invite it, including its leaders, to visit our country."
Upon receiving the invitation, Steenhoven immediately reported to the American ambassador to Japan. After reading the cable from Tokyo, Nixon decided at once that the American team should go to China, taking the invitation for the beginning of a long-awaited major diplomatic action.
On April 14, Zhou received the guest teams from the United States, Canada, Colombia and Nigeria at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. When talking with the American players, he said, "The Chinese and American people used to have frequent exchanges. Then came a long period of severance. Your visit has opened the door to friendship between the peoples of the two countries."
A few hours after the reception, Nixon announced a relaxation of embargo against China. In the latter part of April, China sent a letter, again care of Pakistan, to the United States, saying that china would be willing to receive a special envoy of the American President (e.g Kissinger) or the American Secretary of State, or the President himself. On May 17, Nixon sent through Pakistan his letter of reply, saying that he was ready to receive an invitation to visit Beijing and proposing that preliminary talks be held in secret between Kissinger and Zhou or another appropriate Chinese high-level official. In July Kissinger and Zhou had talks in Beijing from the 9th to the 11th and the two countries publicized a communique simultaneously on the 15th.