When Sarah Lande served Xi Jinping mung bean casserole at a potluck in small-town Muscatine, Iowa, in 1985, she never imagined the young Chinese official would become his country’s lifelong leader — and fierce opponent of the US.
But this week Lande, now 85, will be reunited with Xi in San Francisco, when he attends the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, marking nearly four decades of a highly unlikely friendship.
Xi Jinping will meet President Biden for the first time on Wednesday during the summit to discuss hot-button issues – from trade and tensions over Taiwan, to the spy balloons China has deployed across the country.
Later in the evening Xi will dine again with Lande, albeit under very different circumstances, with other guests at a Bay Area reception for 300 including American business and technology leaders eager to navigate the strained relationship between the two. country.
Lande at the time was director of Iowa’s Sister States program, which builds relationships with foreign countries.
Lande invited the first delegation of Hebei Province as a “Sister Country” to his home in Iowa in 1985 where President Xi Jinping was present. They formed a friendship and Lande still keeps a memorial dish. Sarah Lande Lande hopes her friendship with President Xi Jinping can help secure a peaceful future for the US and China. The two last met in 2012 when Xi returned to Muscatine.AP
In 1985, Hebei Province sent its first “Sister State” delegation to Iowa and Lande invited the group to visit his hometown of Muscatine, in Mississippi, for a potluck.
Besides the green bean casserole there was, he recalled, Iowa roast pork and “no doubt some homemade chocolate chip cookies.” Then-Gov. Terry Branstad brought some wine; he later became President Trump’s ambassador to China because of his friendship with Xi.
Lande first met Xi in 1985 when the 31-year-old rising politician led a delegation from China’s Hebei Province to see how Americans farmed corn and processed food.
“We didn’t realize he was climbing the political ladder. At the time they were Communists but of course when we met them all those barriers disappeared,” Lande told The Post Monday about hosting Xi with her now-deceased husband, Roger Lande.
The two reunited at Lande’s home in Muscatine in 2012 when Xi returned to the US shortly after he first became president — a position that has now turned into a lifetime appointment.AP Former Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad (right) will attend the dinner on Wednesday with President Xi Jinping. In 1985 he brought wine to a potluck.Getty Images
“He’s a bit of a fool with that guy. The spirit is light and full of joy. Eager to learn. He didn’t look tense at all,” Lande told The Post of Xi.
“He had read Mark Twain and wanted to get involved. I don’t believe he speaks English, there is an interpreter. He was eager to learn everything about America.”
During his trip, he also went to a pig roast, went boating in Mississippi, and learned to drive a truck as he visited grain and livestock farms, and with Iowa economic development officer Luca Berrone who drove Xi to grain and livestock farms, while he enjoyed the Hawk Eye state .
Lande said Iowans made a lasting impression on Xi. “He said to me, ‘you are America,'” Lande said.
During his first trip to the small town of Muscatine, Xi went to a pig roast, took a boat ride on the Mississippi, and learned to drive a truck as he visited grain and livestock farms. He returned in 2012. AFP via Getty Images
The two reunited at Lande’s home in Muscatine in 2012 when Xi returned to the US shortly after he first became president — a position that has now turned into a lifetime appointment.
And that same year, Lande and other Iowa natives visited China with Xi and his wife, Chinese folk singer Peng Liyuan, who hosted a banquet for Midwesterners.
He hopes their friendship can help secure a peaceful future for the US and China but says he is not a fan of many of his policies.
“I hope Hong Kong can stay open and I hope he doesn’t attack Taiwan,” Lande told The Post.
Lande said his personal message to President Xi was to tone down his strongman tactics, including changing his limited role as top Communist leader to a lifetime position. “He can achieve those goals by being more open and cooperative,” said Lande.AP
“I hope he doesn’t do that. I think there is so much potential if we can work together. Of course you hear a lot of vitriol. If they’re spying or taking any of our technology, I don’t know, that’s what our people are saying.”
“There is so much potential if we can work together,” Lande said.
“We are the two strongest countries in the world. We want to stay strong and we may never agree on Taiwan and they will never agree on the openness of democracy, but we need in these difficult times to work together and have bright minds working on climate, food insecurity and now, peace across the country . the world. These are difficult times.”
He said his personal message to him was to tone down his strongman tactics, including changing his limited role as top Communist leader to a lifetime position, which “surprised” Lande.
Lande, now 85, will be reunited with Xi in San Francisco, when he attends the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, marking nearly four decades of a highly unlikely friendship. Here, former Iowa Mayor Swayne Hopkins (right) presents President Xi Jinping with the key to the city. AP
“He can achieve those goals by being more open and cooperative,” Lande said.
“Maybe he thinks he needs to be a strong person to advance his country, but I hope that through different exchanges and through our friendship maybe we can compete as a country side by side and work together.
“We can’t let ego get in the way. The world needs the two strongest economies to resolve the conflict.”
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
