When Sarah Lande served Xi Jinping green bean casserole at a potluck in the small town of Muscatine, Iowa, in 1985, she never imagined that the young Chinese official would become his country’s leader for life and a fierce opponent of USA.
But this week Lande, now 85, will meet Xi in San Francisco when he attends the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, marking nearly four decades of a highly unlikely friendship.
Xi Jinping will meet President Biden for the first time on Wednesday during the summit to discuss hot-button issues, from trade and tensions over Taiwan to the spy balloon China deployed across the country.
In the evening, Xi will dine with Lande again, albeit under radically different circumstances, with other guests at the 300-person Bay Area reception, including American business and technology leaders eager to navigate the tense relations between the two countries.
Lande was at the time director of Iowa’s Sister States program, which establishes ties with foreign countries.
Lande invited the first delegation from Hebei Province as a “Sister State” to his home in Iowa in 1985, where President Xi Jinping was present. They bonded over a shared meal and Lande still has a commemorative plate. Sarah Lande Lande hopes her friendship with President Xi Jinping can help ensure a peaceful future for the United States and China. The two last met in 2012, when Xi returned to Muscatine.AP
In 1985, Hebei Province sent its first “Sister State” delegation to Iowa and Lande invited the group to visit his hometown of Muscatine, on the Mississippi, for the potluck.
In addition to green bean casserole, he recalled, there was Iowa pork roast and “definitely some homemade chocolate chip cookies.” The then governor. Terry Branstad brought wine; He later became President Trump’s ambassador to China because of his friendship with Xi.
Lande first met Xi in 1985, when the 31-year-old rising politician led a delegation from China’s Hebei province to see how Americans grew corn and processed food.
“We didn’t realize he was moving up the political ladder. At the time they were communists, but of course when we met them, all barriers fell,” Lande told The Post on Monday about hosting Xi with her now-deceased husband, Roger Lande.
The duo met at Lande’s home in Muscatine in 2012, when Xi returned to the United States shortly after becoming president, a position he has now turned into a lifetime appointment. AP Former Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad (R) will attend Wednesday’s dinner with President Xi Jinping. In 1985 he brought wine to the potluck.Getty Images
“He was a bit silly with the boys. A happy spirit full of joy. Eager to learn. He didn’t seem tense at all,” Lande told The Post of Xi.
“I had read Mark Twain and wanted to participate. I don’t think he spoke English, there was an interpreter. He was eager to learn everything about America.”
During his trip, he also went to a pig roast, took a boat ride on the Mississippi, and learned to drive a truck while touring grain and livestock farms, and with Iowa economic development official Luca Berrone, who led Xi to grain and livestock farms. during his time enjoying the Hawk Eye state.
Lande said Iowans left a lasting impression on Xi. “He told me: ‘You are the United States,’” Lande said.
During his first trip to the small town of Muscatine, Xi went to a pig roast, took a boat ride on the Mississippi and learned to drive a truck while touring grain and livestock farms. He returned in 2012. AFP via Getty Images
The duo met at Lande’s home in Muscatine in 2012, when Xi returned to the United States shortly after first assuming the presidency, a position he has now turned into a lifetime appointment.
And the same year, Lande and other Iowa natives visited China with Xi and his wife, Chinese folk singer Peng Liyuan, who hosted a banquet for Midwesterners.
She hopes their friendship can help ensure a peaceful future for the United States and China, but said she is not a supporter of many of their policies.
“I wish Hong Kong could stay open and I certainly wish it didn’t invade Taiwan,” Lande told The Post.
Lande said his personal message to President Xi would be to tone down his strongman tactics, which included turning his term-limited role as top communist leader into a lifetime position. “He can achieve those goals by being a little more open and cooperative,” Lande said.AP
“I hope he doesn’t do that. I think there is a lot of potential if we could work together. Of course you hear a lot of vitriol. “If they are spying or taking any of our technology, I don’t know, that’s what our people say.”
“There is a lot of potential if we can work together,” Lande said.
“We are the two strongest countries in the world. We want to stay strong and we will probably never agree on Taiwan and they will disagree on democratic opening, but in these difficult times we need to work together and get our brilliant minds working on climate, food insecurity and now peace Worldwide. world. “These are really difficult times.”
He said his personal message to him would be to tone down his strongman tactics, which included converting his time-limited role as top communist leader into a lifetime position, which “surprised” Lande.
Lande, now 85, will meet Xi in San Francisco when he attends the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, marking nearly four decades of a highly unlikely friendship. Here, former Iowa Mayor Swayne Hopkins (right) hands President Xi Jinping a key to the city. AP
“He can accomplish those goals by being a little more open and cooperative,” Lande said.
“Maybe he thinks he has to be the strong person to make his country grow, but I hope that through different exchanges and through our friendship we can compete as nations side by side and cooperate.
“We can’t just let egos get in the way. “The world needs the two strongest economies to resolve the conflict.”
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Source: vtt.edu.vn