MUSCATINE: The backdrop for China's next leader was supposed to be quintessential Americana -- a Mississippi River town once home to Mark Twain and far removed from the world's centers of power.
But in Muscatine, Iowa, Vice President Xi Jinping also visited a city with a nuanced view of China's emergence, seeing benefits from growing trade but with some residents also uneasy over how the rising power treats its people.
Xi, who is tipped to lead China for a decade starting next year, paid a quick visit Wednesday to a Victorian house on the river bluffs as he reunited with Iowans he met in 1985 when he was a low-ranking official on an exchange.
Sarah Lande, Xi's host, voiced hope for a "surge" in the visas between the United States and China "so we can have more international exchange and more trade, as we're having here between Iowa and China."
One restaurant in this Mississippi River city of 23,000 fried up a special Xi Jinping burrito in honor of the famous visitor, while chains such as McDonald's and Taco John's flashed greetings on their outdoor signs.
"People are pretty excited to have a world leader come here. It's not every day that someone of that stature comes to a town our size," said Chris Steinbach, editor of the Muscatine Journal.
But while Iowa's governor has likened the visit to that of a pope, Muscatine -- whose major industries include furniture and food processing -- is more than a small town enjoying its brief moment in the international spotlight.
Numerous residents said that they or their friends have been to China on business, sometimes on extended trips.
The local high school, like a growing number in the United States, offers courses in Mandarin.
Iowa's exports to China shot up by nearly 1,300 percent from 2000-2010, led by the Chinese middle class's demand for pork, soybeans and other Iowa produce. But the manufacturing sector, while better off than in some states, has felt the pressure of China's emergence as the superpower in inexpensive exports.
"What's important is to preserve free and open trade, and politics often get in the way of that. So this visit is very consequential as opposed to in Washington where it's political theater," said Alan Palmer, a consulting engineer having a lunch of chili in downtown Muscatine.
Polls have consistently shown that most Americans see China as friendly, despite frequent criticism from Washington of Beijing's policies on issues including the value of its currency, which critics say is artificially low.
A recent survey conducted by Gallup found that nearly three-quarters of Americans believed it was important to develop strong relations with the rapidly growing Asian power.
But several residents in Muscatine said that they remained uneasy with aspects of China's rise, including its labor conditions and its human rights record.
"People often talk about China's economy but they forget what it is. It's communist and has more than a billion people and many of them are still poor," said John Morgan, who was visiting Muscatine for business from Cedar Rapids.
"On human rights issues, of course that's their business. But we can also say, hey, let them have a little girl without a penalty," Morgan said, referring to Chinese penalties for having more than one child in some areas.
Randy Richmond, an artist whose daughter is studying Mandarin at Muscatine High School, said that many Americans had a limited understanding of China and did not consider its thousands of years of history.
"People probably look at China with the Tibet issue and human rights, that type of thing. I hope people take this as an opportunity to learn all that's going on," he said, referring to Xi's visit.
"Certainly there are things they do that I don't agree with, but there is always hope for change," he said. "It's important that we understand China as, economically, it affects all the rest of the world."
Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2012
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