Xi Meets Critics in Congress

Chinese Vice President Takes Fire on Human Rights, Stresses Benefits of Trade

By JEREMY PAGE and LAURA MECKLER

WASHINGTON—Xi Jinping, China's presumptive next leader, came face to face with his critics in the U.S. Congress on Wednesday and delivered a policy address highlighting the benefits of trade with China, and his own personal affinity to the U.S.

Vice President Xi began the second full day of his U.S. tour by visiting Capitol Hill, where he heard Republican and Democratic congressional leaders voice strong concerns about China's trade policies, its human-rights record, and its ties to Syria and Iran.

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Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.), right, shows Vice President Xi to his seat on Wednesday.

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

On Wednesday, Mr. Xi confronted U.S. lawmakers who have been among China's most outspoken critics, perhaps in part for domestic political purposes.

He met 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 Mr. Xi a letter addressing the plight of Gao Zhisheng, a Chinese dissident and human-rights attorney serving a three-year jail sentence for inciting subversion of state power.

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 Syrian government's crackdown on opposition supporters. Mr. Cantor also mentioned concerns with Iran's nuclear program and encouraged China to cooperate with international efforts on Iran.

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

The Chinese Embassy didn't respond to a request to comment about Mr. Xi's response. However, Mr. Xi addressed many of the same issues in his speech to an audience of about 600 people, mainly business leaders, at a lunch organized by the U.S.-China Business Council and the National Committee on United States-China Relations.

He said China had reduced its overall trade surplus, allowed its currency to appreciate and tried to boost imports from the U.S., noting that many U.S. states' exports to China have risen rapidly over the past decade.

But he said Washington needed to adjust its own economic structure and policies, including removing restrictions on exports of high-tech civilian goods to China, in order to reduce its trade deficit with Beijing. "This will help balance China-U.S. trade, stimulate economic growth and job creation in the United States and improve the balance of U.S. international payments," he said.

Mr. Xi said it was "only natural" that the two countries had differences on human rights and called for more dialogue to build mutual trust. More forcefully, however, he urged the U.S. oppose any moves toward Tibetan independence.

Xi Jinping Visits the U.S.

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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.

Tibet activists have staged a series of demonstrations during his visit to protest Chinese policies in Tibet, which they blame for a spate of self-immolations by Tibetans in the past year.

Nonetheless, Mr. Xi appeared to make a concerted effort to strike a positive tone in his speech, paying tribute to U.S. leaders who helped to re-establish diplomatic relations in 1979.

"As a Chinese saying goes, 'when you drink water, don't forget those who dug the well,' " he said. Mr. Xi was introduced by former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, who helped pave the way for President Richard Nixon's historic visit to China in 1972.

Mr. Xi made a pointed reference to his own visit to the city of Muscatine, Iowa, in 1985, saying that had signified the start of exchanges between Chinese and U.S. local governments that are now a key part of bilateral ties.

He also related a story about how, in 1992, he had read an article in a Chinese newspaper about Milton Gardner, a U.S. physics professor who lived in China from 1901 to 1911 and wanted to make a return trip in the 1980s, but wasn't able to because of failing health. Mr. Gardner died in 1986.

Mr. Xi said that, "very moved" by the story, he made contact with Mr. Gardner's wife, Elizabeth, and helped her organize a trip to the town where her husband grew up. "I'm sure there are many such touching stories between our two peoples," he said.

Jon Huntsman, the former U.S. ambassador to China who attended the lunch, said Mr. Xi had "humanized" the China-U.S. relationship while at the same time standing firm on core areas of Chinese policy.

"The speech was as much tailored for the audience in Beijing as it was for the American audience," Mr. Huntsman said. "He left with a lofty kind of aspirational message, and that's important for the person who's going to be in charge for the next 10 years."

After his speech, Mr. Xi was presented with an album of photographs of his own father, Xi Zhongxun, on a visit he made to New York, Washington, Iowa, California and Hawaii with a delegation of Chinese provincial leaders in 1980.

One of the photographs showed the elder Xi—a revolutionary hero—wearing a flower garland in Hawaii, where he was persuaded to don a hula skirt, according to Jan Berris, vice president of the National Committee on United States-China Relations, who accompanied the delegation on the trip in 1980.

Mr. Xi leafed through the album for several minutes, smiling broadly, before thanking Ms. Berris and others who presented it to him.

Ms. Berris, who had met Mr. Xi before, said earlier that "He comes across like his father, who was very outspoken and not shy and retiring. He's a man with his own personality."