Xi Seeks to Charm China's Critics

Xi Jinping, China's presumptive next leader, sought to charm some of his country's fiercest critics Wednesday when he met lawmakers in Washington, and delivered his main policy address in Washington before heading to Iowa to attend a reunion with a family he stayed with there in 1985.

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Xi Jinping arrives at a visit Wednesday with U.S. lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

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Vice President Xi began the second full day of his U.S. tour by meeting Democratic and Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill, where China has come under intense criticism for its trade policies, human-rights record, and more assertive recent diplomacy in Asia.

Mr. Xi has already been pressed on those and other issues during meetings Tuesday with President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and other administration officials, although they also sought to strike a friendly rapport with the man expected to take over as Communist Party chief in the fall.

Mr. Xi stuck close to the official script on Tuesday, but he also tried to strike a friendly tone, pledging to reach out to a broad cross section of American society, and to "deepen friendship" at the same time as defending China's rights record and asking the U.S. to respect China's "core interests" of Taiwan and Tibet.

On Capitol Hill Wednesday, Mr. Xi heard congressional leaders voice strong concerns about economic issues and human rights.

He met first with House Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio) and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R., Va.), who both expressed "ongoing concerns with reports of human-rights violations in China and denial of religious freedom," Mr. Boehner's office said later. Mr. Boehner's staff gave him a letter addressing the plight of Gao Zhisheng, a dissident and human rights attorney imprisoned in China.

WSJ's Jeremy Page has been following Chinese Vice President Xi Jingping during his visit to Washington and makes a call to Mean Street to discuss the issues being aired. Photo: AP.

Mr. Boehner also addressed economic issues, citing "deficiencies" in China's enforcement of intellectual property laws as "an ongoing barrier to stronger economic ties." Mr. Cantor said he welcomed China's peaceful rise but encouraged China to play a "constructive role" in international affairs. He expressed disappointment with the Chinese veto of a United Nations Security Council resolution condemning the brutal crackdown in Syria. Mr. Cantor also mentioned concerns with Iran's nuclear program and encouraged China to cooperate with international efforts on Iran.

A Senate aide described the meeting Wednesday between Mr. Xi and 10 senators as "cordial and productive." But he said senators were "tough at times on Vice President Xi on a number of issues, including human rights and China's currency manipulation."

Mr. Xi also delivered a lunchtime speech highlighting the benefits of closer commercial ties and playing down fears about China's rapidly growing power in front of an audience of about 600 business leaders, academics and other luminaries.

In a roughly 20-minute appearance, Mr. Xi stuck closely to a script that was seasoned with polite, diplomatic phrases about U.S.-China friendship, describing the relationship as "an unstoppable river that keeps surging ahead."

But he also said the U.S. must change its economic policies, including easing exports of high-tech civilian goods, to address its trade gap with China.

"It's very important to the U.S.-China trade imbalance that the U.S. adjusts its economic policies and structure, including removing various restrictions," Mr. Xi said through an interpreter.

The highlight of the day was expected later on, when Mr. Xi was due to visit the small city of Muscatine, Iowa, for a teatime reunion with some of the people he met there on a visit in 1985 as a junior Communist Party official leading an animal feed delegation.

Mr. Xi is scheduled to have afternoon tea at the home of Muscatine resident Sarah Lande, who hosted Mr. Xi for dinner one evening on his 1985 visit.

Mr. Xi's return to Muscatine highlights his personal connections to the U.S. and his differences from Chinese President Hu Jintao, the man he is expected to succeed as China's top leader. Mr. Xi will be more familiar with the West than any of his predecessors. His daughter attends Harvard and he has dealt regularly with U.S. officials and business leaders, such as former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson.

While he was in Washington this week, observers said he appeared more confident and at ease than Mr. Hu. He may also attend an NBA game in Los Angeles on Friday.

Xi Jinping Visits the U.S.

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Larry Downing/Reuters

U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden, right, and Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping shook hands before a meeting at the White House in Washington Tuesday.

The Muscatine visit also highlights economic ties between China and the U.S. Farm Belt, which is benefiting from surging demand for meat and other food products as China's middle class grows. China was the biggest foreign buyer of U.S. agricultural goods in 2011, including commodities such as soybeans, corn and pork that are produced in Iowa.

Such high-profile visitors are rare in Muscatine, although the town boasts that it has hosted at least one other famous figure: Mark Twain in 1854.

Even local people who met Mr. Xi on his last visit didn't learn until recently that he had risen to prominence.

"It was 27 years ago when Mr. Xi was in Muscatine and to be really honest I had not been able to find out a lot of information about him over the years, until very recently, when I saw a couple of articles," said Joni Axel, 69, a local attorney who met Mr. Xi during his 1985 visit.

As part of his U.S. visit, China's vice president -- and expected next leader -- Xi Jinping is stopping in the small river town of Muscatine, Iowa, a place he visited nearly three decades earlier. Video and reporting by WSJ's Owen Fletcher.

"One of the most memorable moments I had [during Mr. Xi's 1985 visit] was the social event we had at a hog farm," Ms. Axel said. "We were all having a picnic…everybody was having such fun, and Mr. Xi has a very captivating smile. That's what I remember."

Local people who interacted with Mr. Xi's Chinese delegation in 1985 met reporters on Tuesday at a public library in Muscatine to discuss his visit. "His visit to Muscatine isn't about politics, it's not about the economy," Muscatine Mayor DeWayne Hopkins said in an interview. "It's about friendships."

Not everyone will be offering such a warm welcome: Several hundred Tibetans from nearby states traveled to Des Moines to hold protests on Wednesday against Mr. Xi outside the state Capitol building, said Gabriel Feinstein, a spokesman for the Midwest Coalition for Tibet, a group of Tibet-focused nongovernmental and community organizations. Hundreds of Tibetan and other activists, such as ethnic Uighurs and Chinese democracy campaigners, held protests in Washington during Mr. Xi's visit there.

Mr. Xi was due to fly to Des Moines Wednesday evening for dinner at the Iowa Capitol with Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad and other officials.

He also plans to visit a farm near Des Moines and to attend a symposium on U.S.-China farm ties before departing on Thursday for Los Angeles.

—Nathan Hodge and Ian Talley in Washington contributed to this article.

Write to Jeremy Page at jeremy.page@wsj.com and Owen Fletcher at owen.fletcher@dowjones.com
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