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Hu puts Chicago on China's map

Updated: 2011-01-21 13:46

By Wu Jiao (China Daily)

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 Hu puts Chicago on China's map

President Hu Jintao talks with Chicago Mayor Richard Daley on Thursday evening. Outside Washington, Chicago is the only stop in Hu's four-day visit to the US. Charles Rex Arbogast / AP

 
 

Hu puts Chicago on China's map 

People wait outside the Hilton Hotel hoping to get a glimpse of President Hu Jintao on Thursday in Chicago. Hu attended a mayoral dinner in his honor at the hotel to mark the beginning of a two-day visit to the city. Scott Olson / Getty Images / AFP

Hu puts Chicago on China's map

President meets Mayor Richard Daley and business leaders, focuses on economic ties in special visit

CHICAGO - The windy city was abuzz after President Hu Jintao arrived late Thursday to visit the only city outside Washington he selected for his four-day trip.

Several hundred Chinese Americans gathered outside streets to welcome Hu as he passed by in his escort of vehicles. Local Chinese American leaders have also been posting welcome signs for Chinese president in Chinatown and in areas of Chicago's South Loop.

Hu is expected to focus on economic ties between China and Chicago during his visit. He came here after Mayor Richard Daley's long effort to build ties with the world's second largest economy. Experts said the attention from China has been the envy of other US cities and could mark a gigantic - and profitable - step forward for both sides, despite the rocky US-China relationship last year.

According to the Chicago Tribune, Mayor Richard Daley and his wife Maggie met Hu on Thursday evening inside a Hilton Chicago ballroom, with business leaders in Chicago and from China joining them.

During an ensuing banquet, Hu called on the US to ease its high-tech export control on China and called for a fair environment for Chinese companies to invest in the US.

Chinese officials have long said that US controls on its high-tech exports to China have contributed to the massive trade imbalance between the two nations.

At least 40 Chinese businesses now have operations in the Chicago area, and the number is growing. For example, Wanxiang America Corp, which makes solar panels, has opened plants and its headquarters around Chicago in the last two years. Goldwind, the leading wind power company in China, recently established its US headquarters in Chicago.

Hu said Chicago has played an important role in advancing trade and cultural ties with China.

During his visit to Chicago, the Chinese president plans to tour Chinese businesses and is expected to visit a unique Chinese language institute Daley helped develop. Daley characterized the visit as a "big, big, big, big, big deal", at a news conference last week.

Daley has focused on business and largely stayed away from politics in developing a relationship with China. He went to Shanghai last year to headline "Chicago Days" at the 2010 World Expo. In 2008, he went to the Beijing Olympics to look for lessons for Chicago's 2016 Summer Olympics bid. He has avoided criticizing China on human rights issues and stayed away from US manufacturers' claims that China undervalues its currency to make its exports cheaper than US products, contributing to high unemployment here.

In 2006, Daley pushed for the development of the Confucius Institute in Chicago, a language and cultural center that started as a small Chinese language program. It's now one of the largest institutes of its kind in North America; about 12,000 Chicago public school students take Chinese and the institute offers community classes and international exchanges for teachers.

While the institute doesn't have direct ties to business, leaders in Chicago's Chinatown say it helps forge a connection.

"It creates a whole generation of younger students and future leaders to understand Chinese culture and language. It will help the business transaction," said Tony Shu, president of the Chinatown Chamber of Commerce. "If you know the language, you'll find it so much easier."

City leaders say Chicago's sister cities program has helped. Shanghai and Shenyang have been Chicago sister cities since 1985, and Daley has met mayors of both cities. He met Hu at a White House state dinner in 2006, a Daley spokeswoman said.

Tom Bartkoski, a director at World Business Chicago, also said Daley deserves much of the credit for the growing economic ties between China and Chicago.

Chicago-area businesses such as Boeing, Motorola, Abbott and Wrigley have expanded operations in China. On Wednesday, Obama announced new business deals with China worth $45 million, including a highly sought $19 billion deal for 200 Boeing airplanes.

"Chicago residents should be honored that Chicago is the only city outside Washington that Hu selected to visit," Hong Liu, president of the Chinese American Association of Greater Chicago, a group of more than 100 Chinese organizations. "He's going to bring a lot of businesses to Chicago and promote friendships, not only between China and the US but Chicago and China's friendship."

While Daley deserves much credit for Hu's visit, some experts say it was a natural progression.

Hu visited much of the West Coast in 2006, with stops in Los Angeles and Seattle. There's also been some precedent for Chinese presidents to see the US president's hometown. In 2002, former president Jiang Zemin went to former president George W. Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas.

Others see the Chicago visit as a bit of a surprise since the Chicago area hardly has the largest Chinese population in the US. Roughly 1 percent of the metro area's about 9.6 million people are of Chinese descent, according to the US census.

Six other metro areas - New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Jose, California, Honolulu and Boston - have larger Chinese populations.

Aside from business, Hu's visit is expected to help increase awareness of Chicago and tourism.

"It gives us much greater visibility in China. They remember cultural icons," said Dali Yang, a political scientist and faculty director at the University of Chicago Center in Beijing. "We are at a critical turning point. This is to establish the image of Chicago as that destination in their consciousness."

AP contributed to this story.

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