Spotlight: Business leaders, experts applaud Xi's speech in Seattle

Business leaders, scholars and experts who attended a banquet in Seattle on Tuesday in honor of visiting Chinese President Xi Jinping applauded his speech at the event.

Constance W. Rice, a regent of the Seattle-based University of Washington, lauded Xi's speech as outstanding, saying that Xi really made it very clear that it's important to have mutual respect, mutual understanding between China and the United States.

Xi's forward-thinking ideas in terms of people-to-people exchanges, including the exchange of 50,000 young students with the United States, were very innovative, Rice said after the banquet.

Rice also appreciated Xi's real grasp of humanities, saying Xi's quotes in many areas like Ernest Hemingway and Martin Luther King indicated that "this is a president that has many many important layers of humanity."

Geoff Otterman, a senior executive of British multinational company Johnson Matthey, which has major operations in the United States, was impressed by Xi's call for cooperation between countries, saying cooperation is highly important to the overall economic growth, not only of the United States and China, but also of the entire world.

Otterman said that Xi talked about his personal life and background, how he came from a poor place and how he wants to bring the standard of life up for all the people in China.

Douglas Paal, vice president for studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said that Xi's speech in Seattle directly addressed many of the questions on the minds of American officials and observers.

Robert Daly, director of the Kissinger Institute on China and the United States at the Woodrow Wilson Center, said Xi was a fine public speaker, relaxed and confident.

Daly said that Xi didn't employ any humor, but managed to humanize himself a bit in American eyes by talking about his American studies reading list.

Daly said that Xi seemed serious throughout, but also displayed a good deal of charm.

Xi also signaled willingness to discuss cyber issues, intellectual property rights, currency concerns, Chinese and American contributions to world order, Daly said.

"This is constructive. His openness to engaging on the NGO question is particularly encouraging."

U.S.-China Business Council President John Frisbie said the policy speech by Xi in Seattle was an opportunity for him to address the current uncertainties in the U.S.-China relationship. "He touched upon all of the key issues in his remarks and closed with a strong statement supporting greater trust and confidence in the U.S.-China relationship," he said in a statement.

IBM Vice President Christopher A. Padilla said that Xi addressed all the important issues about the relationship, including the strategic move about the U.S. and China relations.

"I think he also did a good job of connecting with his audience by telling personal stories from his experience. He talked about his working in the countryside and when he returned to the village years later, he saw the facts of economic growth," Padilla said.

"And I think this helps explain why economic reforms and opening-up are so important to the Chinese government and to the Chinese people," Padilla said.

John W. Bruns, regional senior sales director of commercial airplanes of Boeing in China, was most impressed with Xi's sincerity and his remarks about the importance of the people-to-people relationship in the speech.

"That's the foundation of how the U.S. and China are going to get along in the future, it's the people-to-people," said Bruns.

"I myself have been working for Boeing on China for almost 30 years ...I have seen for myself the cooperation between the two peoples and how important it is. I have such good friends in China. We don't care about the differences ... we care about our personal relationship and our friendship. That's the most important thing."

Bruns fully agreed with what Xi said about the exchange of 50,000 students, adding that "that's the future of the people-to-people relations."

On China's support for the exchange of 50,000 students between China and the United States in the next three years, William Ayer, board member of Washington University, said: "That's fabulous. It's a very important initiative and Washington University will work together."

Glenn Bowers, president of iSoftstone, praised Xi's openness and willingness to collaborate so as to bring the world's two largest economies together.

Tim Cranton, chief legal counsel of Greater China Region of Microsoft, said: "His (Xi's) speech is good. He struck the right tone to say that the two countries should work together."

Ma Yun, chairman of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group, said that Xi's speech was very successful and showed sincerity.

From Xi's speech, it can be seen that Chinese leaders have thorough understanding of American culture, Ma said.

Xi's announcement on the exchange of 50,000 students between China and the United States is of landmark significance, which will help foster mutual understanding and respect for each other's culture between young people of the two countries, he added.

Xi arrived in Seattle on Tuesday morning, starting his first state visit to the United States. He delivered a policy speech at the welcoming banquet hosted by the government of Washington State and American friendly groups. Endi