Dennis Wilder Recalls Hu's 2006 White House Visit Ahead of Xi's September 24 Trip
Updated
Updated · South China Morning Post · Sep 19
Dennis Wilder Recalls Hu's 2006 White House Visit Ahead of Xi's September 24 Trip
1 articles · Updated · South China Morning Post · Sep 19
Summary
Dennis Wilder, a former senior US intelligence official, says planners for Xi Jinping’s September 24 state visit should brace for the difficulty of staging a Chinese leader’s White House trip.
Wilder frames that advice through his own role in Hu Jintao’s 2006 visit, when he had just become acting senior director for Asian affairs on the National Security Council.
Hu’s push for a Washington state visit came after George W. Bush’s China trip two months earlier, when Beijing was helping host six-party talks on North Korea and not obstructing the war on terrorism.
Bush’s 2005 visit also showed how symbolism could shape US-China diplomacy, from attending a Protestant church service to a widely noted mountain-bike ride with young Chinese Olympic hopefuls.