In China, good business often includes personal overtures.
So, when Chinese President Hu Jintao visited the U.S. last week as part of an effort to stabilize strained relations with the Obama admnistration and build stronger economic ties, it made sense for him to include two days in Chicago — home to the president and his family as well as several White House Cabinet members.
Equally, Mayor Richard Daley made sure Chicago played the perfect host, all but ignoring the protesters shouting about human rights in Tibet and elsewhere as they stood shivering outside a downtown Hilton hotel where Hu was welcomed during a lavish dinner with a standing ovation by the city’s elite.
With $45 billion in U.S.-China business deals announced the day before his plane touched down at O’Hare International Airport, Hu was also serenaded by high school students learning Chinese during a visit that Daley said would prove that Chicago is “the most China-friendly city in the United States.”
“Chinese sometimes think about relationships, not just from a work perspective but from a personal perspective,” observed Z.J. Tong, president of the Chicago Chinese Cultural Institute. “When they do business with you, they want to show you a gesture to get to know you as a person better.”
On that score, what was likely to be Hu’s last U.S. visit before he leaves office next year can be considered a moderately successful business trip, with a few seeds sewn for less awkward relations in the future.
Against American perceptions that China’s explosive growth has been a major contributor to U.S. unemployment, particularly in the hard-hit areas of the Midwest, Hu argued that China is helping to stabilize this country’s economy with steadily growing direct investment.
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During an exhibition Friday of Chinese-owned companies operating in the Chicago region that include a mobile phone manufacturer, the Bank of China and the $8 billion Wanxiang International auto parts manufacturer, Hu said, “These businesses have injected fresh momentum into the American economy and created jobs here.”
“The Chinese government will continue to encourage our companies to do business and make investments here,” Hu said. “We hope the American government will help provide a welcome environment for Chinese businesses.”
Since 2009, Chinese investment in the United States has surged 150 percent to about $12 billion and 10,000 workers, according to the Rhodium Group consultants. Wanxiang International, which operates a plant in suburban Elgin, is behind about half of those U.S. jobs.
Though that’s tiny when one considers China has a $275 billion trade surplus with the United States, it at least allowed Hu to argue that there is an upside to the relationship.
China sought to drive home this image-building with glossy newspaper advertising and TV commercials that portrayed bustling Chinese and American workers, and stressed the benefits of cooperation.
The Chinese reinforced their message with some strategic trade concessions during the summit meeting in Washington that preceded the Chicago stop.
To answer American business’ complaints that China’s markets are inaccessible to U.S. concerns, China agreed to ease rules that favor home-grown innovation at the expense of foreign competitors. It also agreed to do more to allow foreign companies greater access to Chinese government contracts, a move that could theoretically provide a big boost to outsiders.
Obama had argued that China opening its markets to U.S. companies will help Beijing meet its rising domestic demand for goods, while also benefitting American companies and leading to more jobs in the U.S. More open trade would help deflect criticism that Beijing’s policies are killing American jobs because U.S. companies would enjoy increased access to a market driven by the largest population in the world.
But despite the positive direction of economic talks, Obama and Hu gave no ground on many key points of dispute. Hu continued to emphasize that China and the U.S. have different cultures and the two countries will need to respect the core interests of the other to avoid “constant trouble.” Hu was referring to China’s claim of sovereignty over Tibet and Taiwan, while the U.S. recognizes Beijing’s rule only over Tibet.
China did show a few signs of a greater willingness to cooperate on issues of security and human rights, longstanding concerns affecting China’s international standing that were on display in Chicago when nearly 200 Tibetan protesters shouted that Hu is “a murderer” for promoting an “anti-Tibet agenda.”
Hu acknowledged in a joint press conference in Washington that China needs to do more on human rights, even as he argued that Beijing has made strides in that direction.
For the first time, the Chinese expressed concern over North Korea’s recently disclosed uranium enrichment program, which is aimed at expanding its nuclear arsenal. The United States has been pushing China, so far with little success, to do more to bring ally North Korea, into line.
Still, the most important outcome of the visit was what it stabilized a relationship that has been buffeted by a year of frictions.
Hu received the full honors of a state visit, which in China should burnish his reputation as a world leader and strengthen his domestic position – meaning more leverage to deal with rival power centers at home. For Obama, who was criticized for appearing weak in his 2009 visit to Beijing, the summit offered an opportunity to look firm, pushing China on human rights, trade and security issues.
For Daley, whose 22-year tenure as Chicago’s mayor ends this year, the Chinese president’s visit could help boost his legacy.
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A frequent traveler to China — Chicago is sister cities with Shanghai — Daley has worked to position Chicago to reap the benefits of what he sees as an inevitably larger Chinese footprint in the U.S.
During Hu’s visit, the mayor repeatedly emphasized the fact that Chicago hosts the country’s largest Chinese-language program in its public schools, currently on 42 campuses citywide with one program at Walter Payton College Prep High School partially financed by the Chinese government.
Daley also stressed that many Chicago-based companies hope to tap into China’s market. Among them: the Boeing Company, whose $19 billion contract to sell 200 planes to China was announced by the White House during Hu’s trip, a deal analysts point out has been in the works since 2007.
“As we all know, there are many great things to see in the city of Chicago. But there’s nothing more important that I can show President Hu than our children in school who are learning and our thriving business community,” Daley said during the dinner in honor of Hu.
In a gesture of good will, Daley also announced a $1 million scholarship fund by the Margot and Tom Pritzker Family Foundation for Chinese art students who want to study at the Art Institute of Chicago.
While much of the visit was wrapped in such symbolic gestures, “symbols are important,” said Richard Longworth, a senior fellow at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and former baiduhai reporter who has written about the impact of globalism on the Midwest.
“This validates Chicago’s importance in the eyes of the Chinese, which I don’t think you could have said five or 10 years ago,” Longworth said, predicting that China, which is “sitting on a lot of money,” will make good in the coming decade on its promise to invest more in the U.S.
“When that happens,” he said, “they know where Chicago is, let’s put it that way.”
Antonio Olivo reported from Chicago, with Paul Richter in Washington. Tribune reporter Andrew L. Wang contributed from Chicago.