Xi Jinping US Visit Sparks Protests, Traffic Delays, Emotional Letters

Xi Jingping, the president of China, arrived in Washington on Tuesday, marking the first time he has been in the U.S. on an official visit.

An Air China Boeing 747, carrying both Xi and the first lady, Peng Liyuan, landed at Paine Field in Everett Tuesday about 30 miles north of Seattle, according to The Guardian.

He was greeted by a group of government officials including Washington's Governor, Jay Inslee, former Washington Governor and U.S. Ambassador to China Gary Locke, and Seattle Mayor Ed Murray.

Xi will spend a week in the U.S. spending some of this time in Seattle, before heading to Washington, D.C., and then lastly to New York, according to the International Business Times.

For the two days he's in Seattle, Xi will stay at the Westin hotel, where many had already begun to gather to protest China's human rights violations.

While in Seattle, he will take part in talks between five U.S. governors and six of their Chinese counterparts concerning issues about energy and energy efficiency, reported the New York Times. He is also expected to deliver a policy speech Tuesday evening.

On Wednesday, Xi will tour Boeing's large airplane production plant in Everett and travel to Microsoft's headquarters.

Afterwards, he'll leave the Seattle area Thrusday for a meeting with President Obama, Secretary of State John Kerry and National Security Advisor Susan Rice.

Lastly, he will head to New York to attend the opening of the United Nations General Assembly.

While some protested Xi's visit, even going so far as to start a July petition calling for the White House to suspend "all official exchanges with the Chinese government" after officials in China detained more than 100 human rights lawyers and activists, others just saw the visit as an annoyance after the streets surrounding the Westin were closed, causing traffic delays.

For one person however, this visit was of vital importance. As Xi arrived, the husband of an American businesswoman who had been detained by Chinese authorities six months ago under suspicion of espionage wrote a letter to Obama asking the State Department to arrange her release.

Jeff Gillis said he waited this long to inform the State Department of Sandy Phan-Gillis's arrest in order to apply extra pressure on the two world leaders as they meet face-to-face.

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Washington, Seattle, Washington D.C., New York, China, Energy, President Obama