Having expressed the wish to establish closer contacts with the Red Cross Society of China, the President of the ICRC was invited by that National Society to go to China in September. Mr. Naville, accompanied by the Presidential Attaché, Mr. Michel Barde, left Geneva for Peking on 13 September. He was welcomed in the Chinese capital by leaders of the Red Cross Society of China, Mr. Kuo King-go, Mr. Wang Min, Mr. Li Go-hua, Mr. Shang Shenggan, Mrs. Lian Si-yi and Mrs. Lian Mo.