Xi’s successful US trip ends in Hollywood
LOS ANGELES: Chinese leader-inwaiting Xi Jinping declared his US visit a “full success”, as he rounded it out with a Hollywood film deal and a trip to a basketball game in Los Angeles.
Xi made the comments in the final hours of his five-day trip, which started with power talks in Washington and included a charm offensive trip to America’s heartland, where he reached out with billions of dollars in farm deals.
“I can now say my visit to the United States has been a full success,” Xi said in a visit to an LA school with US Vice President Joe Biden, adding that his meetings with Biden and President Barack Obama had been “very fruitful.”
Echoing the warm remarks, Biden – who visited China last year – joked: “I envy a lot of things about him, starting with his full head of hair. And I admire his stamina. We have given him virtually no time to sleep.”
But Biden also reiterated a key message Xi has heard this week – that the United States wants Beijing to play the same “rules of the game” to reduce the enormous trade imbalance between the two heavyweights.
“We very much want to see more of our business in China, and Vice President Xi has committed to making that possible,” he said, adding: “The faster the US economy grows the more Chinese citizens will benefit.”
In America, “we all welcome the competition,” he told Xi, who is expected to lead the rising Asian power starting next year.
But he added: “The crux of our discussion is that competition only benefits everyone if the rules of the game are fair and being followed.
“So we will continue with the Vice President and the Chinese government to make sure that everyone is playing by the same rules, and everyone is on a level playing field.”
Xi hailed Biden, saying: “We have established a good personal friendship and working relationship.”
Recalling how China competed in the Olympics in 1984 for the first time after being re-admitted, adding that Chinese relations have “made some twists and turns” along way, but “over the years we have made some headway.”
Building further cooperation between the nations “is the right strategic decision that serves the interests of both,” he said.
Protests have accompanied Xi throughout his trip, and did so to the last: hundreds of Tibetan and Falun Gong activists rallied outside his LA hotel on Friday, along with a group of pro-chinese activists waving red Chinese flags. — AFP