Before Xi Jinping flew to the U.S., his foreign minister promised a "people first visit" that would showcase the Chinese president's "extensive outreach to the American people."
The aim of the trip, which included a state visit to Washington bookended by tours of tech companies in Seattle and an address to the United Nations, was two-fold: To present Xi as the strong leader of a rising economic and military power, while highlighting the softer side of a man who runs a Communist juggernaut that some neighbors and the U.S. view with wariness.
Xi came away from his U.S. visit with several agreements — on issues like climate change and cybersecurity — and a plan to buy 300 Boeing planes. Yet despite his talk of trust in the U.S.-China relationship, and a stop at a school where he was presented with a personalized football jersey, the trip provided little of the outreach that Foreign Minister Wang Yi promised.