An Auspicious Beginning to Xi Jinping's American Visit

With dignity and formality, Xi Jinping, who will soon be the leader of  China and the Asian Communist Party, met on Tuesday with his host for the visit, Vice President Joe Biden, with President Obama himself, and with a wide range of dignitaries, including former Secretaries of State Henry Kissinger and Madeleine Albright, as well as Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta. Panetta greeted the future leader of China at the River Entrance to the Pentagon, facing the Potomac River where US troops saluted Xi Jinping with a 19 gun salute.

The president and Xi discussed several issues of mutual importance: human rights, economic and currency disputes, imbalances of trade, military tensions, and more. The statesmen touched briefly on the issue of the vetoes of the NATO Arab League plan for Syria by China and Russia. That is a new issue, and still undergoing change daily. Fundamentally, Washington has accused Beijing of protecting rogue regimes and thereby promoting bloodshed. Emphasis instead went toward the general issue of civil, or human rights. At a luncheon later in the day, Xi defended his country's position, but said, "Of course there's always room for improvement on human rights." It was a full day for Xi Jinping, including the 90 minute talk with Obama, receptions at the State Department and the Pentagon, a gathering with business executives, and a dinner at the home of Vice President Biden.

Outside the White House, and on the Arlington Memorial Bridge in Washington, Tibetan protesters were detained by police, then released. The Tibetans are demanding freedom for Tibet, pleading with Xi Jinping to “Stop Lying to the World.” China is involved in an ongoing struggle to continue dominance of Tibet, Thailand, and the seas near Vietnam and the Philippine Islands. China takes the viewpoint that the United States is encouraging “Skepticism and dissent among neighbors in the region” with our adamant support of civil and human rights causes.

Obama and his administration devoted time to the discussion of important economic issues, including the balance of trade between the nations, with Vice President Xi Jinping. Obama stated, “With China's meteoric rise as an economic powerhouse comes a responsibility to ensure balanced trade flows.” Later, Vice President Biden said, "We are not always going to see eye-to-eye. We are not always going to see things exactly the same, but we have very important economic and political concerns that warrant that we work together.”

Article Author: John Lake

John Lake was known for years in blogging circles as “BigBadJohnny”. The fearless crusader took on any and all comers; no politician or any corporate conglomerate was immune to his sword. Now at BlogCritics, he has expanded his writing efforts to …

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