On the afternoon of August 22, 1977, just three days after Deng officially returned to work as a member of the Politburo Standing Committee, he met Secretary of State Cyrus Vance. Deng wanted to accomplish some things in his few years in office, and the timing of this meeting reflected the high priority he gave to normalizing relations with the United States. Hua Guofeng, China's chairman and premier, met Vance the day after Deng did, but American officials understood that the key visit was with Deng.
