The man who is expected to become China’s next president begins highly anticipated meetings in Washington on Tuesday. The trip comes as the Obama administration seeks to shift the emphasis of U.S. strategy toward the Asia-Pacific region — including changes the Chinese aren’t sure they like.
Hosted by Vice President Joe Biden, Xi Jinping will visit the White House, the State Department and the Pentagon. Daniel Russell, the top White House adviser on Asia, says the idea is to get to know China’s vice president better, and to let him hear from U.S. officials and business executives what kind of relationship the U.S. wants with China.
“The fact that he is not the head of state but that he is intimately, closely involved in Chinese policymaking, I think it gives us a chance to get past the syndrome of dueling talking points that diplomats frequently engage in,” Russell says.
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