Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Seattle on Tuesday to kick off a week-long U.S. visit that will include meetings with U.S. business leaders, a black-tie state dinner at the White House hosted by President Barack Obama and an address at the United Nations.

Xi and his wife touched down in an Air China 747 at Paine Field, adjacent to the massive plant where Boeing Co. makes its largest jets, some 25 miles (40 km) north of Seattle. They were welcomed by Washington state Gov. Jay Inslee.

In downtown Seattle, a crowd of about 25 protesters representing Falun Gong, a religious group that says it is repressed in China, calmly waved signs outside the Westin hotel, where Xi is set to deliver a speech later in the evening.