But it was the day of July 13, 2001, that proved to be a pivotal moment for China — and the world.

This is when Beijing won the hosting rights for the 2008 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games.

According to an Associated Press report, the architect behind the unlikely international public relations campaign that propelled China’s historic win, was Michael Holtzman, a graduate of William & Mary. Holtzman has served stints as an adviser at the White House and U.S. Department of State and would subsequently serve as the chief creative officer at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.

Securing the hosting of the 2008 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games for Beijing, notes the Associated Press, was a key moment for the Olympic movement and for China, it signaled the country’s growing stature and readiness to be a major global player.

I asked Holtzman what motivated him to play the role of architect of the public relations campaign that secured for China the hosting rights of the 2008 Olympics.

“I had worked on China issues at the Council of Foreign Relations and as an adviser to the U.S. Trade ambassador and I believed that engaging China was the best strategy for them to play a constructive role in the world,” Holtzman said in an interview with me, for the Virginia Gazette and Lake Placid News. “The opportunity to bring the Olympic Games to China followed the same ‘engagement’ logic as their accession to the World Trade Organization did. As a young public relation executive, leading this campaign was a huge challenge, which I found attractive.”

I asked Holtzman about the highlights of his effort.

“The highlight of this effort was getting the Chinese to commit to utilizing clean energy , and improving their environmental standards, openness to the media, to repurposing Olympic venues into affordable housing, and to adhering to international system of rules,” Holtzman said.

He added: “The idea that the Olympic Games would change China made it irresistible to the voters on the International Olympic Committee.”

Holtzman has the reputation of being a global thinker and strategist.

I asked him, what he sees as a positive and negative result of his effort to open the door to China to rejoin the international community?

“I believe,” he said, “the Olympic Movement did its part in opening China to the world and tying China more closely to the international order instead of acting outside of it. Yet today, China is considered a rival to the West. It has surpassed the United States as the biggest economy. Its military ambitions are unknown. It is of course not the role of the Olympic Movement to address those challenges. But the fact that China is now a pole in a competitive, confrontational world certainly betrays the values of peace through sport.”

Holtzman, who now leads Rally International Public Affairs, has a roster of clients across the developing world. He advises heads of state, and is recognized for his sophisticated, globe-trotting strategy to build bridges between nations.

(Frank Shatz is a former resident of Lake Placid and a current resident of Williamsburg, Virginia. He is the author of “Reports from a Distant Place,” a compilation of his columns.) This column is used with permission by the Virginia Gazette.)