– We are unable to find out. We have no idea why he likes us, says Sarah Lande (85) to Bloomberg.
She is one of several of Xi’s “old friends” from the small town of Muscatine in Iowa, who have been invited to dinner with the Chinese president this week.
It takes around 30 hours to drive from Iowa to San Francisco by car, but Lande has no doubts about making the trip.
– We are looking forward to meeting him as well. We are completely ordinary, everyday people.
Sarah Lande signed in 2022 the agreement “Sarah and Lande Scholars” program in Muscatine, Iowa. The program was intended to motivate students in Muscatine to choose Chinese as their first foreign language. In the middle sits Ni Pin who represented the Wanxiang America Corporation, and behind is China’s former foreign minister Qin Gang.
Foto: XINHUA
Summit
The real reason why the Chinese president is coming to the US is the APEC meeting on the US west coast.
It is nevertheless a four-hour long summit meeting between him and President Joe Biden that gets the most attention.
The challenges between the two countries are in the queue, and the relationship has been described as a new cold war.
Now the world is waiting for the ice between the US and China to melt, because it can hardly get any worse.
Many wonder whether the meeting between Xi and Biden will end with sparkling eyes and wide smiles, or with stiff masks.
At dinner anyway, it doesn’t look like the two will eat together.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Joe Biden will meet for the first time since they were in Bali in 2022.
Photo: KEVIN LAMARQUE / Reuters
Businessmen
Then Xi prefers American businessmen and old friends. This coincides with what is supposed to be a new Chinese strategy.
The country has gained a bad reputation for its tough line. Now the politicians are attempting a complete turnaround.
They want to win the hearts of ordinary people, and show that there is no need to fear China.
The fact that China’s economy is going slower should have helped to force the new line forward.
Roast pork
– It has been quite a journey, says Lande.
She has kept in touch with Xi ever since he visited Iowa in 1985.
At the time, he was an unknown representative of the Chinese Communist Party. He came to the United States aged 31, as head of a food processing delegation.
The locals invited him on a boat ride on the Mississippi River and served him roast pork.
– He wanted to learn how he could secure food for the people, says Lande.
Xi is said to have been fascinated by Mark Twain and was taken on a road trip in Iowa.
Xi Jinping visited Iowa again in 2012 and is said to have said the following: – You were the first people I met in the United States. To me you are the United States.
Foto: Charlie Neibergall / AP
Strong impression
– We really had fun for two weeks. It was like in a movie, five or six guys who were on a trip, says Luca Berrone, who was an official who dealt with economic development in Iowa.
The warm welcome must have made a strong impression on Xi.
When he returned to the United States as vice president in 2012, he again visited Lande in Muscatine.
– You were the first people I met in the United States. To me you are the United States, she says he told her.
Several dozen people from Iowa are said to have then been invited to China, where they were among other things guests at a banquet. The hostess was Xi Jinping’s wife, Peng Liyuan.
The former US ambassador to China, Terry Branstad, toasted Xi Jinping in Iowa in 2012, when Xi was vice president. Branstad has also been invited to the reception with Xi in San Francisco this week.
Foto: Charlie Neibergall / AP
Charm offensive
The story of Xi’s friendship in the United States is also passed on in the Chinese, and state, news agency Xinhua.
And the timing is good.
American politicians agree that China is primarily a challenge.
According to the Communist Party, it is not China that stands in the way of a good relationship with the United States.
Xi’s charm offensive is probably an attempt to make the Americans believe that it is possible to be friends.
Or as he is said to have written in a letter to his friend Sarah Lande:
– The Chinese and American people are two great people. Our friendship is not only a valuable resource, but also forms an important basis for the development of bilateral relations.
The APEC summit is being held this time in San Francisco, but the most tension is linked to how the meeting between the presidents from the US and China goes.
Photo: Godofredo A. Vásquez / AP
2023-11-14 21:52:10
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