The American media reacted positively to Vice-President Xi Jinping's official visit to the US. Indeed, Xi's first major performance on the world stage has been impressive not only because he demonstrated the personable side of China's top leaders, a rare occurrence, but also because he stood firm and made clear China's position on key issues that have plagued Sino-US relations. The language he used was fresh, the analogies subtle and the logic of argument profound. Although most Chinese do not know Xi well, he has a reputation for having a firm character behind a gentle demeanour, or, to quote a Chinese expression, 'a needle hidden in silk floss'.
Did his American counterparts and China watchers grasp his most important messages, which were expressed through a pop song, a George Washington quotation and Chinese proverbs in a dialectic style of discourse? Perhaps not yet. The media likes him for his interest in American people and a melange of pop culture such as the earthy style of the Midwest, the tinsel town of Hollywood and the rambunctious NBA.
But, when it comes to three critical issues in dispute with the US government - trade, military tensions and human rights - Xi held onto China's position while nudging his American hosts in the direction of self-reflection rather than constant criticism of others from the moral high ground.
On human rights, for example, the typical Chinese reaction to Washington's criticism is to launch a counterattack. Xi seems to have adopted a more effective approach to make the point that both sides need to improve their record. He said in a speech that, on this question, 'there is no best, only better'. The implication, missed by the press, is that, throughout history, the development of human rights has been a course of continuous improvement and enhancement, and this is true of every country, including the US. Such an argument works well, for it does not deny that China needs to improve its human rights, but at the same time it debunks the universalistic myth that the Western political system means the 'end of history' for future human rights advances.
On military tensions in the Asia-Pacific, Xi made explicit his disapproval even before his arrival in Washington through a written interview with The Washington Post. 'At a time when people [in Asia] long for peace, stability and development, to deliberately give prominence to the military security agenda, scale up military deployment and strengthen military alliances is not really what most countries in the region hope to see.' In his opening remarks with Xi at the White House, President Barack Obama was visibly defensive, at once emphasising that the US 'is a Pacific country'. Xi has no illusion about the reality of the Sino-US strategic tensions. During his Pentagon visit, he expressed again the need to 'control and manage' the two nations' differences.
While trade and currency issues are considered far less explosive, Xi missed no opportunity to warn his hosts to remove export controls in hi-tech areas - a major cause of the US-China trade imbalance. He used trade statistics to illustrate how the US position in the hi-tech market in China had declined over the past decade due to its strategic suspicion of China.