China’s Xi arrives for state visit with Obama

Chinese President Xi Jinping swapped U.S. business leaders for White House officials Thursday afternoon, making the trip from Washington state to Washington, D.C., for his first official state visit.

The Chinese leader is slated to have an informal dinner Thursday night with President Obama before a series of meetings and a joint press conference Friday, culminating in an official state dinner that night.

{mosads}Xi is hoping his Washington trip displays to the world that China is a global power on par with the U.S.

But the Chinese president arrives in a charged political climate after two days of pleasantries — and some polite disagreements — with U.S. business leaders in Seattle.

Democrats and Republicans alike have blanketed the White House with letters ahead of the visit, urging Obama to take a stand on a number of issues, including discriminatory trade practices and domestic regulations, territorial disputes in the South China Sea, human rights abuses and, most notably, hacking.

Members of Congress have grown increasingly frustrated with the Asian power in recent months over its alleged hacks on the U.S. government and private sector, putting the White House under considerable pressure to take a hard line with Xi during his visit.

Not only is Beijing accused of orchestrating a massive campaign to steal American intellectual property, it is believed to be behind the damaging theft of more than 20 million federal employees’ sensitive data.

Republican presidential hopefuls have also hammered China on the campaign trail, with several candidates even calling on Obama to cancel the formal state dinner.

Administration officials promised this week not to “paper over” any differences during Xi’s time in Washington.

“We’ll be very clear and candid about them,” Ben Rhodes, White House deputy national security adviser, told reporters this week.

The general irritation was present Thursday in a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing, held just hours before Xi touched down in D.C.

Both lawmakers and national security agency Director Adm. Michael Rogers, who was testifying, went after China over its U.S.-focused cyber campaigns at the hearing.

China’s commercial espionage “is directed, influenced and funded by the Chinese government itself,” said Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who is running for president.

“Yes,” agreed Rogers, who also heads the U.S. Cyber Command.

Moments later, Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) expressed concern about a recently approved national security law that gives Beijing vague authority to ensure certain technology is “secure and controllable”

Wouldn’t that be an invitation for Chinese authorities “to potentially get into those companies’ databases?” Warner asked.

Rogers replied that Beijing sees this access as a “sovereign right.”

“We reject that notion,” he added.

While cyberspace behavior is likely to top the agenda in both the informal and formal meetings Thursday and Friday, little formal progress is expected.

Rumors circulated earlier this week that the two sides were on the cusp of announcing a cyber warfare pact during the summit. Under the framework, both countries would agree to not launch the first cyberattack on the other’s critical infrastructure during peacetime.

While White House officials have downplayed the likelihood of such a pact, Chinese officials reportedly indicated in Seattle that it might be imminent.

Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) pressed Rogers about the potential accord at Thursday’s hearing.

“I certainly think we can get to the idea of norms,” Rogers said. “A formal treaty? I don’t know.”

King encouraged the administration to keep at it.

“I just think this is a promising area with other nation states,” he said. “If there are states like Russia or China that are willing to have these discussions, I think it’s a profitable discussion.”

Regardless, cyber policy specialists have deemed the reported cyber warfare deal as a baby step in the long process of creating cyber norms. Plus, it would have do nothing to stem the tide of cyberattacks drowning American businesses, they say.

In Seattle, Xi himself insisted China was ready to start a “high-level” cybersecurity dialogue with the U.S. to combat cyber crime.

If the dialogue comes to fruition, it would be the first official cyber channel between the two sides since China quit a joint working group in May 2014 over the Justice Department indictment of five members of the Chinese military for hacking the U.S.

“The international community should, on the basis of mutual respect and mutual trust, work together to build a peaceful, secure, open and cooperative cyberspace,” Xi said.