Xi Jinping's US visit - Global Times

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Chinese VP arrives in Washington for visit

Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping (L, front) is welcomed by US Deputy Secretary of State William Burns upon his arrival in Washington, capital of the United States, Feb. 13, 2012. Xi Jinping arrived in Washington Monday afternoon, kicking off his official visit to the United States. Photo: Xinhua

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Xi begins crucial US visit

Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping welcomes visiting US President Barack Obama at Beijing Capital International Airport on November 16, 2009. File photo: Xinhua

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Chinese VP hopes US presidential vote won't have negative impact on Sino-US ties

Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping (central) meets with several former senior US officials in Washington, capital of the United States, Feb. 13, 2012. Among the former officials are former US secretaries of state Henry Kissinger and Madeleine Albright, former US treasury secretary Henry Paulson, former US national security advisers Zbigniew Brzezinski, Brent Scowcroft and Sandy Berger, and former US secretary of labor Elaine Chao. Photo:Xinhua

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Obama welcomes Xi in Oval Office

Vice President Xi Jinping met with US President Barack Obama at the Oval Office in the White House Tuesday. Photo: Xinhua

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Chinese VP attends luncheon hosted by Biden, Clinton in Washington (1)

Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping (C) addresses a luncheon jointly hosted by his US counterpart Joe Biden (R) and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Washington, the United States, Feb. 14, 2012. Photo:Xinhua

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Chinese VP attends luncheon hosted by Biden, Clinton in Washington (2)

Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping (C) addresses a luncheon jointly hosted by his US counterpart Joe Biden and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Washington, the United States, Feb. 14, 2012. Photo:Xinhua

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Chinese VP Xi meets US Secretary of Defense Panetta (1)

Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping (L) meets with US Secretary of Defense Leon E. Panetta at the Pentagon in Washington, the United States, Feb. 14, 2012. Photo: Xinhua

Chinese VP Xi meets US Secretary of Defense Panetta (2)

Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping (2nd, L) reviews a guard of honor during a welcoming ceremony given by US Secretary of Defense Leon E. Panetta at the Pentagon in Washington, the United States, Feb. 14, 2012. Photo: Xinhua

Chinese VP Xi meets US Secretary of Defense Panetta (3)

Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping (L, Front) attends a welcoming ceremony given by US Secretary of Defense Leon E. Panetta (R, Front) at the Pentagon in Washington, the United States, Feb. 14, 2012. Photo: Xinhua

Chinese VP Xi meets US VP Biden (1)

Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping (C) addresses the US-China Business Roundtalbe in Washington, the United States, Feb. 14, 2012. Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Joe Biden (2nd R) attended the business roundtable. Photo: Xinhua

Chinese VP Xi meets US VP Biden (2)

Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping (3rd, R), in the company of US Vice President Joe Biden (2nd, L), shakes hands with Thomas J. Donohue, president of the US Chamber of Commerce (1st, L), before a business roundtable in Washington, the United States, Feb. 14, 2012. Photo: Xinhua

Chinese VP Xi meets US VP Biden (3)

Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping (C) and his US counterpart Joe Biden (R) attend a business roundtable in Washington, the United States, Feb. 14, 2012. Photo: Xinhua

Xi holds talks with US Congress

Vice President Xi Jinping waves as he arrives to meet US lawmakers Wednesday on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. Photo: AFP

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Chinese VP addresses luncheon hosted by USCBC and NCUSCR (1)

Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping addresses a welcoming luncheon hosted by the National Committee on US-China Relations and the US-China Business Council in Washington, the United States, Feb. 15, 2012. Photo: Xinhua

Chinese VP addresses luncheon hosted by USCBC and NCUSCR (2)

Chinese VP Xi addresses agricultural symposium in Iowa

Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping addresses the US-China High Level Agricultural Symposium in Des Moines, Iowa, the United States, Feb. 16, 2012. Photo: Xinhua

Chinese VP visits China Shipping in Los Angeles (1)

Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping (L, central) talks to crew as he tours China Shipping at the Port of Los Angeles in Los Angeles, California, the United States, on Feb. 16, 2012. Photo: Xinhua

Chinese VP visits China Shipping in Los Angeles (2)

Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping (R, front) shakes hands with crew as he tours China Shipping at the Port of Los Angeles in Los Angeles, California, the United States, on Feb. 16, 2012. Photo: Xinhua

Chinese VP visits China Shipping in Los Angeles (3)

Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping (C, front) poses for photos with employees of China Shipping as he tours the company at the Port of Los Angeles in Los Angeles, California, the United States, on Feb. 16, 2012. Photo: Xinhua

Chinese VP meets with old friends in US (1)

Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping (Front, C) and his old friends pose for group photos in Muscatine, a small city in Iowa, the United States, Feb. 15, 2012. Xi joined dozens of ordinary Americans for tea at a local house owned by his old friend Sarah Lande here Wednesday. Most of the participants at the tea reception were Xi's old acquaintances back from his 1985 visit, when Xi, then a local official from China's northern province of Hebei, visited Iowa as a member of an agricultural exchange delegation, and stayed with a local family in Muscatine to better understand Iowan farm life. Photo: Xinhua

Chinese VP meets with old friends in US (2)

Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping (3rd R, front) joined dozens of ordinary Americans for tea at a local house owned by his old friend Sarah Lande (3rd, L) in Muscatine, a small city in Iowa, the United States, Feb. 15, 2012. Most of the participants at the tea reception were Xi's old acquaintances back from his 1985 visit, when Xi, then a local official from China's northern province of Hebei, visited Iowa as a member of an agricultural exchange delegation, and stayed with a local family in Muscatine to better understand Iowan farm life. Photo: Xinhua

Chinese VP meets with old friends in US (3)

Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping (L) presents the granddaughter of his old friend Sarah Lande with a panda doll in Muscatine, a small city in Iowa, the United States, Feb. 15, 2012. Xi joined dozens of ordinary Americans for tea at a local house owned by Sarah Lande here Wednesday. Most of the participants at the tea reception were Xi's old acquaintances back from his 1985 visit, when Xi, then a local official from China's northern province of Hebei, visited Iowa as a member of an agricultural exchange delegation, and stayed with a local family in Muscatine to better understand Iowan farm life. Photo: Xinhua

Chinese VP meets with old friends in US (4)

Iowa Mayor Dwayne Hopkins (R) presents Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping (C) with a key to the city in Muscatine, a small city in Iowa, the United States, Feb. 15, 2012. Xi joined dozens of ordinary Americans for tea at a local house owned by his old friend Sarah Lande here Wednesday. Most of the participants at the tea reception were Xi's old acquaintances back from his 1985 visit, when Xi, then a local official from China's northern province of Hebei, visited Iowa as a member of an agricultural exchange delegation, and stayed with a local family in Muscatine to better understand Iowan farm life. Mayor of Iowa then presented Xi with a key to the city during his 1985 visit. Photo: Xinhua

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Latest News

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Xi holds talks with US Congress

Chinese VP meets Obama, senior US officials on bilateral ties

Chinese, US vice presidents hold talks on ties

Chinese VP calls for deeper strategic mutual trust with US

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Obama welcomes Xi in Oval Office

Chinese VP hopes US presidential vote won't have negative impact on Sino-US ties

GT Dialogue on Sino-US Relations

When the boxers are holding each other, they are very very close, that's the safest place, because neither can hit the other. The US and China are in a clinch. We should stay that way.

-- Nicholas Platt, a former high-level US diplomat in China and a former president of the Asia Society

The US needs to reassure Beijing that it is not seeking to contain China, an impossible task in any event, and China needs to credibly reassure the US that its aims are not to have a US that is weak in Asia.

-- David M. Lampton, Hyman Professor at the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University

Voices

"Vice President Xi's US visit serves as an important high-level interaction between the two countries in 2012, and we hope that, with the visit, the China-US relationship will be pushed forward along the path oriented by the two heads of state in this important year and even a longer period,"

-- China's Vice Foreign Minister Cui Tiankai

"Iowa looks forward to sharing its experience in the green industry with China, as the two sides could work together to decrease dependence on fossil fuels and explore more sustainable forms of energy. Such exchanges of visits and people-to-people connections are of great importance to the advancement of US-China relations, because more mutual understanding and friendship will lead to even more cooperation."

-- Iowa Governor Terry Branstad

"This visit is an investment in the future of the Chinese-American relationship,"

-- Tony Blinken, Biden's national security adviser

"This will be an opportunity for the leaders of both countries to really sit down and talk about our differences,"

-- US Ambassador to China Gary Locke

Media Comments

For the US, Mr. Xi's visit is a rare chance to for lawmakers, officials and business leaders to learn more about the politics and personality of the man expected to lead China for the next decade.

China is concerned about the United States enhancing its military presence in the Asia-Pacific region, which is widely seen as a counterweight to growing Chinese assertiveness in the region.

One aspect of Xi's visit will be to gauge public perceptions of China in the US and seek ways of overcoming a lack of trust between the sides, a task complicated by disputes over trade, Taiwan, human rights and international concerns such as intervening in the ongoing violence in Syria.

The visit is mainly seen as a continued discussion in what some have called a 'trust deficit' that exists between DC and Beijing even as trade between the two countries continues to grow.

ON US-CHINA RELATIONS SINCE 1972

• China-US relations have become one of the most important, dynamic and promising bilateral relationships in today's world.

• What has happened over the past 40 years tells us that a sound and stable China-US relationship is crucial for both countries and for peace, stability and prosperity of the Asia-Pacific region and the world at large.

BUSINESS COOPERATION

• Mutual benefit is the defining feature of China-US business ties.

• Frictions and differences are hardly avoidable in our economic and trade interactions. What is important is that we properly handle these differences through coordination based on equality, mutual benefit, mutual understanding and mutual accommodation.

ON THE ASIA-PACIFIC REGION

• China and the United States have more converging interests in the Asia-Pacific region than in anywhere else.

• What the Asia-Pacific countries care most is to maintain economic prosperity and build on the momentum of economic growth and regional cooperation. At a time when people long for peace, stability and development, to deliberately give prominence to the military security agenda, scale up military deployment and strengthen military alliances is not really what most countries in the region hope to see.

• The vast Pacific Ocean has ample space for China and the United States. We welcome a constructive role by the United States in promoting peace, stability and prosperity in the region. We also hope that the United States will fully respect and accommodate the major interests and legitimate concerns of Asia-Pacific countries.

ON ECONOMIC AND SECURITY COOPERATION

• We are at a time when the negative impact of the international financial crisis and the European debt crisis continues to spread, regional hotspot issues crop up from time to time and traditional and nontraditional security threats are intertwined. Under such new circumstances, it is all the more important for China and the United States to communicate, coordinate and cooperate more closely and work together to play a constructive and responsible role in upholding and advancing world peace, stability and development.

ON PEOPLE-TO-PEOPLE EXCHANGES

• Mutual understanding and friendship between the two peoples provides a solid foundation and an inexhaustible driving force for the growth of China-US relations.

• China and the United States are two great countries, and the Chinese and American people are well disposed to and interested in each other. We all want to exchange views and learn from each other, deepen friendship and seek common development.

ON SPORTS

• Doing physical exercises keeps one fit and healthy and helps one work more efficiently. I think we all need to strike a balance between work and relaxation. This can keep us energetic and help us do our job better.

• NBA games are exciting to watch and have global appeal. They are very popular in China. I do watch NBA games on television when I have time.

Coverage Abroad

On US Visit, Xi to Address 'Trust Deficit' (1)

A screen capture from The Wall Street Journal. Photo: Feng Han/GT

On US Visit, Xi to Address 'Trust Deficit' (2)

A screen capture from The Wall Street Journal. Photo: Feng Han/GT

On US Visit, Xi to Address 'Trust Deficit' (3)

A screen capture from The Wall Street Journal. Photo: Feng Han/GT

Xi Jinping, China's Presumptive Next Leader, to Visit US

A screen capture from The New York Times. Photo: Feng Han/GT

Chinese leader's visit 'an investment in the future'

A screen capture from USA Today. Photo: Feng Han/GT

China's VP Set to Begin US Visit

A screen capture from Voice of America. Photo: Feng Han/GT

China swats away trouble before Xi's US trip

A screen capture from Canada.com. Photo: Feng Han/GT

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Chronology of China-US summits since 2009

Chinese President Hu Jintao and US President Barack Obama have met several times since Obama took over the Oval Office in January 2009.

The following is a chronology of their major meetings:

April 1, 2009: Hu and Obama met in London on the sidelines of a Group of 20 summit on the financial crisis. It was their first meeting.

Sept. 22, 2009: Hu and Obama again met on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. The two leaders exchanged views on the China-US ties as well as those regional and international issues of common concern.

Nov. 17, 2009: Hu and Obama held official talks at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing and the two leaders reached important consensus on China-US relations.

April 12, 2010: Hu and Obama met in Washington on the sidelines of the Nuclear Security Summit to exchange views on China-US relations and other important regional and international issues of common concern and reach important consensus. The two sides agreed that a sound China-US relationship was not only in the interests of the two countries, but was also conducive to peace, stability and prosperity in the Asia Pacific region and the world at large.

June 26, 2010: Hu met Obama on the sidelines of a Group of 20 summit in Toronto, Canada, to discuss bilateral relations and other important regional and international issues of common concern. During the meeting, Obama invited Hu to make a state visit the United States in early 2011 and Hu accepted.

Nov.11, 2010: Hu met Obama met in Seoul on the sidelines of the fifth Group of 20 summit to exchange views on the Sino-US relations and other major world and regional issues of common concern.

Review of Sino-US Relationship

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About Xi Jinping

Xi Jinping, male, ethnic Han, native of Fuping, Shaanxi Province, born in June 1953. He joined the CPC in January 1974 and began working in January 1969. Xi graduated from the School of Humanities and Social Sciences of Tsinghua University, majoring in Marxist theory and ideological education. He holds an LLD degree through an on-the-job postgraduate education program.

Xi is now a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, member of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee, vice president of the People's Republic of China, vice chairman of the CPC Central Military Commission and president of Party School of the CPC Central Committee.

Visiting Schedule

Feb.13-15 - Washington D.C.

◆Meeting with President Barack Obama and other top officials
◆Having lunch hosted by Hillary Clinton
◆Visiting the Pentagon

Feb.15-16 - The state of Iowa

◆Reunion with family he stayed with in Muscatine in 1985
◆Farm visit, possible soybean deal

Feb.16-17 - California

◆Port visit
◆Roundtable of US and Chinese governors

Video

Agenda In Focus

Polls

Vox Pop

GT Comments

Seeds of 1972 blossomed into Sino-US friendship

The Nixon visit showed that China and the US were capable of rising above the major differences we had at the time and cooperating for mutual advantage.

Forcing Asia to pick sides will go awry

Except for an extreme scenario of China and US having a military clash, Asian countries will not pick sides. Independent diplomacy is active in the region.

Xi's visit lays foundations of future cooperation

US leaders hope to encourage Xi to define the global role China will play in the coming decade.

Keep currents of peace in Pacific Ocean

China cannot change US feelings. China could try to not irritate the US, but this is poor consolation.

National interests may trump prior goodwill

No matter whether Sino-US relations or Sino-European relations, the more favorable they are to China’s national interests, the better.

Staying in clinch best for Sino-US relations

When the boxers are holding each other, they are very very close, that’s the safest place, because neither can hit the other. The US and China are in a clinch. We should stay that way.

Xi’s visit offers chance to renew consensus

Agreements previously reached by the two countries are gradually disintegrating and new consensuses are yet to form.

No unfair victor from Sino-US relations

It is widely acknowledged that Xi will become the new top leader of China at the 18th CPC National Congress this year. Will his visit predict the future direction of China’s foreign policies?

Mistrust spells ill-fortune for Sino-US ties

Sino-US relations