I listened the other day to a radio segment featuring a guy from Muscatine, Iowa, recalling Xi Jingping’s 1985 visit to the heartland. Xi at the time was a 31-year-old county-level official who spent five days in Muscatine and the farming areas nearby to learn about crop and livestock practice.
The Muscatine man remembered that Xi was treated to heartland hospitality, including a big barbecue cookout, and was touched by his experience there.
Xi, now China’s vice president and the man expected to lead his country as president next year, met with President Obama in Washington this week. But I think the most important part of his U.S. visit was his brief return trip to Muscatine on Wednesday.
He got reacquainted with friends he made in 1985, and visited the Kimberley farm in Maxwell, Iowa. In the Associated Press photo above by Charlie Neibergall, Xi he is shown greeting Natalie Kimberley and her 8-month-old son Austin during the visit.
Participants told the AP they were impressed with Xi’s memory of his earlier trip, including the gift of popcorn he took home, and his genuine fondness for Iowa and rural Americans.
This should bode well for U.S.agricultural exports to China. But there’s a more important benefit: Lasting friendships.
We have major issues with the Chinese government, human rights and trade chief among them. And China has issues with us. But we both have to deal with each other.
It’s welcome news that the future leader of the world’s most populous country wants a deeper relationship with the United States. And it’s good that his relationship with us is one that has genuine roots — in the heartland.
