Iowa family hosts Chinese vice-pressident

The present vice-president and probably future leader of China Xi Jingping visited a town in Iowa visiting a home where he had stayed when visiting the U.S. years ago.

Muscatine is a small town of 2300 people on the banks of the Mississippi. Xi Jingping had visited the town a full 27 years ago to pick up agricultural tips to take back home. His recent visit brought out demonstrators both for and against his visit. There was no violence as police kept the two sides separated on each side of the road.

His host for the short visit Sarah Lande noted of his first visit:"We just treated him like everybody else," "So, I think that was something special to him. He slept in the kid's room, ate around the table."The local area has economic interests in good relations with China.

Down the Mississippi manufacturers ship tractors to China and send seed for planting. Not far from the house where Xi Jingping stayed is Musco lighting. The company provides lighting for the Yankee Stadium and Daytona Speedway but also for the International Sports Centre in Shanghai. So the company is anxious to expand into the Chinese market. For much more see this article.

China to continue oil imports from Iran despite U.S. pressure

   U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner is visiting China this week. While he is expected to pressure the Chinese to reduce imports of Iranian oil, he is unlikely to have much effect.
   The Chinese vice-foreign minister said that although China supported non-proliferation of nuclear weapons that this was a separate issue from trade. He said:“The normal trade relations and energy cooperation between China and Iran have nothing to do with the nuclear issue,”
  China imports up to 11 per cent of its oil from Iran, and Iran depends upon China for about a third of its oil exports. However, of late imports have slowed because of disputes about credit and price. No doubt given the lack of markets for Iranian oil because of sanctions China hopes the price will go down. For more see this article.