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With Chinese President Xi Jinping set to land here Tuesday for his first state visit to the United States, this Pacific Northwest metropolis of 3.6 million people is eager to play the role of the perfect host while also expecting some positive outcomes.
"I'm very excited about this, because it is such an exciting moment of continuing to expand all of our relationships which are on so many dimensions," said Washington State Governor Jay Inslee in a recent interview with Xinhua. The governor will be among the welcoming crowd at the airport when the president's plane touches down on Tuesday morning.
Xi is the second top Chinese leader to visit the bustling port city, the largest city in Washington state, in just 9 years. His predecessor Hu Jintao also visited Seattle in April 2006. The city's connection with China can be traced back to 1979, when then Chinese Vice Premier Deng Xiaoping came here as part of a historic U.S. tour immediately after the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries.
Seattle has received all successive top leaders of China in the past three and a half decades, a rare privilege for any major American city. "Seattle has played an important role in U.S.-China relations, and we are honored once again to host the leader of the world's largest nation (in terms of population) and second-largest economy,"
Seattle's Mayor Ed Murray said in a message posted on the government website. "The Nice Washington Has Welcome Mat Out," read a frontpage headline of the Sunday edition of The Seattle Times, which dedicated four pages of special reports to the upcoming visit by the Chinese president. "First I'm gonna make sure that he (Xi) is rested and has good food, that's the first thing for anybody who has been on the plane for eight or nine hours," Governor Inslee said, adding that he planned to offer the president a taste of the "very classic" local clam chowder as well as the fine wine produced in the state.
But compared with the daunting challenges of traffic and security, food and accommodation will be easy to provide for the hosts. According to the Chinese foreign ministry, a major highlight of Xi's visit will be his "extensive outreach to the American people," as he is expected to "meet people from all walks of life" during his two-and-a -half-day stay in Seattle.
Xi will have a very tight schedule featuring seven to eight major events, which include visits to the Microsoft campus and a Boeing plant, an appearance at a high-level business roundtable, and face-to-face interaction with local high school teachers and students, according to a detailed itinerary revealed by local media. In the port city of Tacoma, some 50 km southwest of Seattle, many faculty members of the local Lincoln High School, including the principal himself, sacrificed their weekend to clean up the premises and prepare behind closed doors.
The century-old historic public school is said to have been picked for a visit by Xi and his wife Peng Liyuan on Wednesday. The Tacoma School District also sent three painters to help refurbish parts of the school building's exterior. "As far as I know, this is the first time for the school to receive such an important visitor, and I believe heavyweight politicians from the state and the city will also be present on Wednesday," said one of the painters, who has served with the school district for 25 years and only identified himself as Frank.
On a tourist bus parked at the roadside right in front of the school, driver Raul from Seattle was patiently waiting for a group of Chinese visitors to return. "The presidential visit brings good business," he said with a smile. For ordinary Seattleites, the impact of the presidential visit is more simple and direct. "I think it's a very good thing, and I like China because I have a brother who has lived there for 14 years doing business," said an African American porter at a four-star hotel in downtown Seattle, who introduced himself as Michael. By going all out to ensure the success of Xi's visit, both Seattle and Washington are eying exciting opportunities and promising prospects for their future cooperation with China.
According to Gary Locke, former Washington governor and also the first Chinese American to serve as the U.S. ambassador to China from 2011 to 2014, China is Washington state's top export destination, receiving more than 15 billion U.S. dollars in Washington-produced goods last year alone and supporting close to 90,000 jobs in the state. Meanwhile, Inslee believed there is still much more potential to tap, particularly in the export of agricultural products, including the local wine he would seriously persuade Xi to try. "We are very proud of our food products and our wine," he told Xinhua, insisting that Washington state's wines are at least on a par with their Californian counterparts, although the latter enjoy greater fame both at home and abroad.
He added that he also wants to use the opportunity of meeting with Xi along with a few other state governors to discuss possible cooperation in the field of clean energy and technologies to address mankind's common challenge of climate change. "Seattle benefits from close economic, cultural and educational ties to China," Murray said. "President Xi's visit is an important opportunity to deepen those ties and advance a constructive dialogue on policy issues important to both countries." Citing the success stories of Boeing, Microsoft, Starbucks and Amazon.com, the mayor also stressed the "culture of innovation" deeply rooted in Seattle, which he believes has much in common with China's ongoing efforts to achieve an innovation-based economic restructuring.
Meanwhile, some local media noted Xi's visit to and activities in Seattle may help show the world "what good U.S.-China relations would look like." "We have tremendous opportunities to grow a stronger, better and more economically productive relationship with China," Inslee said.
