The United States can’t magically make freedom and human rights materialize in Communist China. But the reception that Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping got on his visit to this country was unseemly at best.
Xi got a 19-gun salute at the Pentagon — “unprecedented for a visiting vice president,” The Associated Press reported. And Washington “pulled out the stops to make him feel welcome.”
Republican Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad also warmly praised Xi, who is to be the next head of the world’s largest dictatorship, on Xi’s visit to Branstad’s state.
Our nation can’t ignore China. But Chinese leaders do not merit a near-hero’s welcome.