He played a role in the "ping-pong diplomacy" that led to a thaw in US-China relations in the 1970s. At the 1971 world ping-pong championships in Japan, Cowan missed his team's bus and was given a ride on the Chinese bus. Through an interpreter Zhuang Zedong told him: "Although the US government is unfriendly to China, the American people are friends of the Chinese. I give you this to mark the friendship from Chinese people to the American people." The gift was a silk portrait. The encounter was widely publicized in the media. Chinese leader Mao Zedong ordered his foreign ministry to invite the US team to tour China. This led to US President Nixon's visit to China.