CCP Leader Xi Jinping to Visit the US in February

On Monday, US Vice President Joe Biden’s office announced that the appointed Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping would visit the United States on February 14th. The visit comes eight months after Biden's visit to China.

With the 2012 US election coming up, US relations with China is one of the issues on the agenda for debate. We talked to Chinese democracy activist Wei Jingsheng in Washington, DC to get his thoughts on the matter.

[Wei Jingsheng, Democracy Activist]:
"Because of domestic pressure, the Obama administration will definitely want to obtain some trade concessions from China in this year's election. Including (adjustment of) the yuan exchange rate, or in the human rights aspect, these are all bargaining chips, and especially now America is reasonably strong. On the other hand, China will hold the 18th Party Congress. The infighting will be pretty severe. I think in this conflict with the United States, everyone will pass the baton to Xi Jinping. This matter is very difficult, if you take care of it, no matter how you handle it, you can’t resolve it. So I think that when Xi Jinping comes here, he will be on the defensive, and he will make very little concessions for the US."

Obama recently announced a shift in focus for the US military. US forces will now concentrate on the Pacific, with an increased presence and new military bases in Australia. The move comes as the Chinese regime is expanding its military.

[Wei Jingsheng, Democracy Activist]:
“In the past two years, Obama has always placed hope in China, hoping that the Communist Party would make some concessions for him. But speaking realistically, people are not very patient, not only are ordinary Americans not patient, but even government officials and congressmen in Washington are not patient. The Communist Party will not give you anything. This is for sure, even if you say good things to it, it will still serve no use. So I think that this shift in strategy is not a temporary thing. It comes from years of experimenting and not if they simply have to change the strategy. This change in strategy is very important for the US. It is a change in its entire global strategy.”

Whether agreements on key issues can be reached on Xi Jinping’s visit or not, the issue of US-China relations will remain hot on the agenda in the 2012 US election race.