Sunday, February 12, 2012

Chinese VP Xi Jinping



VP Xi is believed to become China's next leader. He will visit the US Feb 13-16, visiting Washington DC, Iowa and LA, before he heads to Ireland and Turkey.

This is a sensitive time in the US, The Republican candidates are staging debates as they vie for the nomination to run for president against Obama. Already China has become a favorite scapegoat for US economic troubles. One US senator was forced to remove racist adverizing and rhetoric from both Republicans and Democrats could not be worse as they demonstrate how they will get tough with China.

On the other hand, China has navigated the world wide economic crisis quite well. China's focus is on trade, and several US states have benifited from trade with China.

Here is a brief view of China's next president from Aljeerza



http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/photo/2012-02/14/c_131407983.htm


The Washington Post, in advance of Xi's visit to the US, posed several questions to discover his views...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/views-from-chinas-vice-president/2012/02/08/gIQATMyj9Q_story.html

Unfortunately, the WP wants you to pay to read. However, the last question was on sports: Xi's response...

ON SPORTS

"I like sports, and swimming is my favorite. Doing physical exercises keeps one fit and healthy and helps one work more efficiently. I think we all need to strike a balance between work and relaxation. This can keep us energetic and help us do our job better.

NBA games are exciting to watch and have global appeal. They are very popular in China. I do watch NBA games on television when I have time."



I believe that Xi's visit comes at an auspicious time, with another American stereotype destroyed by Jeremy Lin, the undrafted sensation who has just set an NBA all time record. Folks are asking, where did he come from, but you see, he was hidden in plain sight by our latent racism, because he 'didn't look like a basketball player.'



There is nothing like exposing America's racism right before the Chinese VP's visit!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/deanna-fei/jeremy-lin-asian-americans_b_1281916.html#comments

Nearly two weeks in, Linsanity is raging for anyone who takes even a passing interest in the game, or identifies as one of the billions of Asians around the globe, or who simply relishes an unlikely hero. And yes, Jeremy Lin's breakout success is a moment of cultural pride for Asian Americans similar to what we've felt in the past with luminaries from Michelle Kwan to Maxine Hong Kingston.

But it also feels very different.

Because what's most undeniable about Lin -- what screamed to anyone who saw his game-winning, buzzer-beating three-pointer Tuesday night -- is that the guy has balls.

Which obviously has always been true of other Asian males. But now Lin is demonstrating it in a way that even the most racist douchebag would be hard-pressed to refute.

And the effect is only magnified by his relatively low-key yet evident swagger, his self-aware nerdy cool, his substantial yet unfreakish build, the fact that on TV he pretty much looks and sounds like your brother or your cousin or a kid who rode the same bus in high school. Amid all the hoopla, he's utterly unafraid to be himself -- which, in the end, is the only form of masculinity a mother truly wants for her son.




So, folks, what does a basket ball player look like?



And here is a so called 'Good Read' from the Christian Science Monitor...

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Global-News/2012/0213/Good-Reads-China-s-next-leader-comes-to-Washington-as-US-enters-a-funk

Americans expect exceptionalism – remember Tom Brokaw’s Greatest Generation – and they expect their leaders to take up where the Roosevelts, Eisenhowers, and Reagans left off.

But a slew of well-argued pieces this week show that these expectations are maybe misplaced.

In Foreign Policy, Daniel Blumenthal – an expert on China at the American Enterprise Institute – says that it’s naïve to think that either tough talk or sweet talk are going to win over Xi and set China on a different path. The truth is that the China that Xi would eventually govern is much more pluralistic and complex than the China that Henry Kissinger and Richard Nixon negotiated with during the cold war, or as politically weak as the Soviet Union that Mr. Gorbachev so helpfully dismantled.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2012-02/15/c_122701686.htm
Wonderful photos of Xi's never ending smile. How can he be so relaxed after hours of trans Pacific and trans America flight and hours of meetings with officials?


Xi Jinping is married to Peng Liyuan, famous folk singer.




I would like to share my observation that Xi Jinping and Jeremy Lin have a lot in common, they both seemingly came out of nowhere, when denied opportunity as a kid, they double down, and work their tails off, until they realize their dreams, then they dedicate their efforts to the 'team.'

Xi's visit continues with what VOA terms a major policy speech. While China and the rest of the world are reporting on his visit, there appears to be a news fail here in the US, with MSM brushing him off as saying nothing new.
http://www.voanews.com/english/news/US-China-Must-Respect-Each-Others-Interests-Chinese-VP-139378933.html

Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping says China welcomes the U.S. playing a "positive role" in the Asia-Pacific region. But, he said, the world's two largest economies should respect each other's "core interests and major concerns."

In what has been billed as the major policy speech of his four-day visit, Xi addressed a luncheon in Washington co-hosted by the U.S.-China Business Council and the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations.

A number of China's most prominent corporate leaders are accompanying Xi on his trip.



This folks, is the way to win. Let's not underestimate Xi Jinping.
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