Hu in Washington

Hu in Washington

Congressman Rick Larsen (D-WA) and I played a part in the summit yesterday between China's President Hu and President Bush. We formed the U.S.-China Working Group in the House last year and are dedicated to upgrading our understanding of China. We joined Illinois employers like Motorola and Boeing who have become large exporters to China.

Rick and I participated in the official state lunch at the White House. I was seated next to President Hu's Chief of Staff. Rick was with the Chinese Foreign Minister. We talked about human rights, the trade deficit, North Korea, Iran, Mayor Daley's upcoming mission to Shanghai and the outbreak of Asian flu (I also noticed that the Chinese President and his staff all use Motorola phones, designed and backed by thousands of Illinois families based in Chicagoland).

We did not solve the major problems but see this first visit of President Hu as a start in a dialogue between the two largest economies of the 21st century. Rick and I were honored to be bipartisan representatives of the House at this summit.

http://www.house.gov/apps/list/speech/il10_kirk/huhu.html