Hu highlights business, cultural ties in Chicago
Source: Agencies |
January 22, 2011, Saturday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
PRESIDENT Hu Jintao was in the heartland of the United States yesterday, visiting Chicago to highlight business and cultural ties between the world's two largest economies.
Hu was feted by the Chicago elite at a gala dinner in US President Barack Obama's hometown and was to wrap up his four-day US state visit with stops at a local school and a business exhibition.
"Our long range goal is to make Chicago the most China-friendly city in the US," Mayor Richard Daley said during a dinner in honor of Hu attended by about 500 people, including senators Dick Durbin and Mark Kirk, Governor Pat Quinn and business leaders.
The mayor has traveled to China four times since 2004, touting Chicago as a global transportation hub with large manufacturing and industrial sectors friendly to Chinese business.
Analysts said Hu's trip helped set a better tone to the relationship with the US after a flare-up in tensions last year over issues such as trade, human rights and North Korea.
The visit had been billed by some as the most important US-China visit in more than 30 years.
US officials touted an acknowledgment from Hu at a press conference in Washington that more needs to be done on human rights and welcomed US$45 billion in export deals with China. They also said the visit helped to serve both leaders' goals of deepening bilateral ties.
"We believe we come out of here advancing the shared view of the relationship that both the US and China have and, I think, that both presidents have, which is that we should identify issues of common interest and aim to build cooperative approaches on those issues," White House deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes said in a video conference with Chinese bloggers.
One aim of Hu's Chicago trip was to present a more benign image of China to Americans wary of its economic might and upset over what they view as unfair trade policies.
Hu told a gathering hosted by the US-China Business Council that cheap Chinese exports had saved American consumers US$600 billion over the past decade and said his country had become the biggest source of profits for many US firms.
"Even in 2008 and 2009, when the international financial crisis was most severe, over 70 percent of American companies in China remained profitable," he said.
Chicago was Hu's only stop outside Washington during his visit.
Hu was feted by the Chicago elite at a gala dinner in US President Barack Obama's hometown and was to wrap up his four-day US state visit with stops at a local school and a business exhibition.
"Our long range goal is to make Chicago the most China-friendly city in the US," Mayor Richard Daley said during a dinner in honor of Hu attended by about 500 people, including senators Dick Durbin and Mark Kirk, Governor Pat Quinn and business leaders.
The mayor has traveled to China four times since 2004, touting Chicago as a global transportation hub with large manufacturing and industrial sectors friendly to Chinese business.
Analysts said Hu's trip helped set a better tone to the relationship with the US after a flare-up in tensions last year over issues such as trade, human rights and North Korea.
The visit had been billed by some as the most important US-China visit in more than 30 years.
US officials touted an acknowledgment from Hu at a press conference in Washington that more needs to be done on human rights and welcomed US$45 billion in export deals with China. They also said the visit helped to serve both leaders' goals of deepening bilateral ties.
"We believe we come out of here advancing the shared view of the relationship that both the US and China have and, I think, that both presidents have, which is that we should identify issues of common interest and aim to build cooperative approaches on those issues," White House deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes said in a video conference with Chinese bloggers.
One aim of Hu's Chicago trip was to present a more benign image of China to Americans wary of its economic might and upset over what they view as unfair trade policies.
Hu told a gathering hosted by the US-China Business Council that cheap Chinese exports had saved American consumers US$600 billion over the past decade and said his country had become the biggest source of profits for many US firms.
"Even in 2008 and 2009, when the international financial crisis was most severe, over 70 percent of American companies in China remained profitable," he said.
Chicago was Hu's only stop outside Washington during his visit.
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