Xi speaks

Like any Chinese leader on a state visit to the U.S., President Xi Jinping has to walk a tightrope. He has to burnish his credentials in the host country, while reassuring his domestic constituency he is being listened to and taken seriously in the world's largest economy

 

Analysts of Xi's main public speech in Seattle have concentrated on such words as cybersecurity, trade between the U.S. and China, security and development of diplomatic relations. These are bread and butter issues of the current relationship.

However, beyond is a more fundamental objective, and one that his speech, in its tone and structure, and the way it was delivered, was meant to achieve. That was to create a bond with Americans, talking to them directly, rather than through intermediaries.

Despite China's increasing economic and diplomatic importance, the sad fact is that its main leader is still not a household name in the U.S. America can be surprisingly insular, and it is well known that only half of congress have passports, and only a quarter of Americans have been abroad, despite being easy to do so.

More significantly, while U.S. presidents are almost universally known in China, with President Obama speaking directly to university graduates during a visit in 2009, and President Clinton famously going on a walkabout near Tian'anmen Square in 1998, on the whole Chinese presidents and high level leaders receive little popular press attention in the U.S.

Perhaps the only moment when a Chinese figure really came to wide public attention was when Deng Xiaoping in 1979 donned a Stetson hat while attending a Texas rodeo.

Not having a direct link to American people deprives Chinese politicians of a unique and powerful means of influencing U.S. opinion. In the Hu Jintao era, the approach was very low key. However, Xi's personality is more suited to attracting media interest. The statements run by the Wall Street Journal before his arrival were the first step in this campaign to familiarize American people with him and the meaning his leadership has for China and U.S.-China relations.

This explains the very personal tone in Seattle - his reference, for instance, to the start of his political career in a village in Shaanxi and use of that to illustrate the changes that reform has brought to China in the last 30 years. Bringing this big story down to such a personal level makes it more publicly digestible.

However, Xi also ensured that he referred to American popular culture. Such as his very effective statement that the current struggle against corruption is not a power struggle, and is not like something out of the very popular television series "House of Cards." It conveys the point that there are structural and political reasons for attacking corruption above merely about promoting particular career interests.

His reference, also, to a raft of American authors from Thoreau to Whitman also shows a level of familiarity with U.S. culture, and a sense that Xi has spent time in the past understanding America. He used a similar technique when speaking in Russia in 2013.

For all of this reaching out, there was one word that figured in his speech many times, and which is the core message he wants the American people to hear directly. That is the issue of "respect." From the language about "major power relations," threaded through the talk on cybersecurity and the South China Sea, and around the issues of creating new economic partnerships, this stress on "respect" speaks to both his main audiences.

To the Americans, it is a statement that they need to understand China better, see its complexity and nuances, not paint it as an enemy, and to take its aspirations and dreams seriously.

For Chinese, the word "respect" is also interesting. They do not want a leader going to the U.S. and either making them appear fractious and difficult, or weak. Stating clearly the importance of reciprocal respect is therefore a crucial message to American people.

This is a brave attempt to forge awareness of China through the words and personality of its current top leader. However, U.S. domestic politics is currently divided, particularly over a China policy. It is important that President Xi contributes to the debate.

Yet, as the Confucian saying goes, you can lead a horse to water, but you cannot force it to drink. The key question now is whether Xi's attempt to forge a closer bond with American people has worked.