Despite the China-US trade friction, Pittsburgh is seeking stronger ties with China and welcomed 316 Chinese visitors who arrived on the first direct charter flight from Shanghai to Pittsburgh International Airport on Friday. Rich Fitzgerald, executive of Allegheny County, where Pittsburgh is the county seat, described it as "historic" for Pittsburgh to be the first midsized city in America to host a tourism charter flight. Pittsburgh has about 20,000 people from China living in the city. "It's our goal to eventually have nonstop scheduled service between China and Pittsburgh and to make Pittsburgh into a thriving tourist attraction for travelers like yourselves," Cassotis, wearing a red dress, told Chinese visitors during the welcoming ceremony. The return flight to China departed the same day and took more than 100 visitors from the US to China.