From the New York Times (link):
The Chinese president, Hu Jintao, began courting major American business leaders on Tuesday, kicking off a four-day United States tour intended to soothe qualms about China’s surging trade surplus and rising political power.
Mr. Hu, who on Thursday will make his first visit to the White House since becoming China’s top leader more than three years ago, landed in Everett, Wash., north of Seattle, and plunged into meetings with local officials and business executives, including Gov. Chris Gregoire and the Starbucks chairman, Howard D. Schultz.
He later visited the headquarters of the software giant Microsoft in Redmond, and his evening plans included dining with local dignitaries at the Medina mansion of Bill Gates, the company’s chairman. On Wednesday, Boeing will be his host at its aircraft factory in Everett.
See also – NYT’s “China’s Big Need for Oil Is High on U.S. Agenda” by David Sanger (link)
– and David Sanger’s video report of Hu’s US visit on NYT multi-media
– and Washington Post’s commentary “How to Weather The ‘Red Storm'” by David Ignatius (link)
– and Christian Science Monitor’s “China’s Hu: well liked, little known” (link) by Robert Marquand, who learned that Hu believes in neither Marxism nor democracy.
