WASHINGTON (AP) – China will get its second state dinner with President Barack Obama when its president, Xi Jinping, visits the White House Friday. The question is, how will the United States make this shindig different from the last one.
A state dinner is the glitzy finale to a state visit, a high honor usually reserved for longstanding and close U.S. allies. That makes the double honor especially unique for China, as the two nations continue to differ sharply on issues such as human rights and cybersecurity.
Then-Chinese President Hu Jintao visited the White House in 2011. The state dinner had a “quintessentially American” theme, which was requested by the Chinese delegation, and a menu that included poached Maine lobster, dry-aged ribeye steak, lemon sorbet and apple pie with vanilla ice cream.
Dinner guests including then-Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, former President Jimmy Carter, singer Barbra Streisand, designer Vera Wang and Vogue magazine editor-in-chief Anna Wintour, sat in the front row for an evening of jazz with musicians Herbie Hancock and Chris Botti, singers Dee Dee Bridgewater and Dianne Reeves.
Decorations incorporated prints of a pheasant, the native bird of China, the country’s national color yellow, and jewel tones inspired by the work of American artist John James Audubon.