President Obama welcomed China’s leader-in-waiting, Xi Jinping, to the White House Tuesday, a visit that comes as the administration seeks new inroads with the rising economic power even as Republican presidential contenders accuse the president of being soft on the communist nation.
The rare Oval Office visit by the Chinese vice president, expected to take over the Communist Party later this year before assuming the presidency next March, represented a sizing up of sorts for Obama, who remains in a precarious relationship with a partner whose views remain unclear on the verge of arguably the largest transition of power on the global stage.
