Thread: China's president to visit Obama's Hometown Chicago

Chicago Breaking News
--Katherine Skiba

China's president to visit Chicago



WASHINGTON--The president of China will visit Chicago next week, a spokesman for the Chinese Consulate-General in Chicago said.

President Hu Jintao, 68, has led China since 2003. He is expected to arrive Jan. 20.

The upcoming visit was confirmed by Xueyong Yu, consul for political and press affairs in office of the Chinese Consulate-General in Chicago.
Mayor Richard M. Daley met last Friday with the Chinese foreign minister to discuss the visit, the New China News Agency reported.

The agency said Daley hopes Chicago will become the country's "friendliest U.S. city to China." A spokesman for Daley was not immediately available for comment.

Hu meets President Barack Obama to discuss a range of issues Jan. 19 and will be honored at a state dinner that night.

The Chinese president will travel in the U.S. from Jan. 18-21, according to Yu, who said his itinerary has not yet been made public.

At the Chicago Chinatown Chamber of Commerce, executive director Chi Can To said Hu will meet with Chinese organizations and businesses in the Chicago area and dine with some members of his board.

The chamber, he said, "is motivated when a major world leader visits our city, regardless of which county they're from."

One aim it to make Chinatown a major tourist destination, he said, though he could not confirm whether Hu would visit the area. "Our community would be thrilled if he did," To said.

The dinner for Hu in Chicago is a week from Thursday at the Chicago Hilton, said Nancy Tom, the executive director of the Center for Asian Arts and Media at Columbia College Chicago. Tom is invited to the gala.

Source: http://archive.chicagobreakingnews.com/ ... icago.html

I'd have to laugh if President Hu was mugged by a latino street gang.... what would Obama have to say to that?