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Eduardo Baptista

China’s ambassador to the United States has highlighted the American state of Iowa’s close ties to the Chinese leadership, the latest in a string of conciliatory actions since he took up the post.
Ever since replacing Cui Tiankai as Beijing’s top diplomat in Washington last month, Qin Gang has adopted a friendly posture in his public statements and events.
On Wednesday, he held a video call with Sarah Lande and Kenneth Quinn, who received Chinese President Xi Jinping when he visited Iowa in 1985 on his first US trip while still a low-ranking government official.
Lande, 83, is the executive director of Iowa Sister States, an organisation aimed at increasing Iowa’s international profile. Quinn, 79, is a former US ambassador to Cambodia and president emeritus of the Iowa-based non-profit organisation World Food Prize Foundation.


“Delighted to meet with Mrs Sarah Lande and ambassador Kenneth Quinn, to recall the fond memories of President Xi Jinping and Chinese people‘s friendship with #Iowa,” Qin tweeted on Wednesday.
“People-to-people friendly exchanges answer to the expectation of all, and give us strength and confidence.”
The appeal to Xi’s personal history with Iowa and “old friends” is in line with Qin’s conciliatory approach as US-China ties face tensions on several fronts, from the Taiwan Strait to trade tariffs.
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Despite Qin’s reputation as a tough-talking diplomat, stemming from his days as a foreign ministry spokesman, the 55-year-old’s present demeanour is far removed from the assertive Wolf Warrior diplomacy his successors in the foreign ministry – spokespersons Hua Chunying and Zhao Lijian – have become known for.
The Chinese embassy in the US described Lande and Quinn as “old friends” in a statement about the video call published on the embassy’s website on Thursday.
“[Qin Gang] stressed that people-to-people relations underpin state-to-state relations and it was hoped that the two peoples will strengthen friendly exchanges, bridge misunderstanding with friendship and replace suspicion with trust,” the statement said.


Cheng Xiaohe, a professor of international relations at Renmin University, said that using the term “old friend” in the context of US-China relations was a sign that the Chinese leadership viewed a person as someone who had played a role in strengthening US-China ties, pointing to former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger as one example.
Kissinger is referred to as an “old friend” by Beijing thanks to his efforts to normalise US-China ties. The diplomat flew on secret diplomatic missions to Beijing in the 1970s and is seen as a catalyst for then-US president Richard Nixon to meet Chinese leader Mao Zedong, paving the way for Washington to break off diplomatic relations with the Taiwan-based Republic of China and switching recognition to the People’s Republic in 1979.
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Xi visited Iowa again in 2012 to commemorate his first trip. In 2018, Lande published a book about the China-Iowa exchange titled Old Friends: The Xi Jinping-Iowa Story, according to Discover Muscatine newspaper.
Cheng said that as an agricultural hub, Iowa’s farmers and agricultural associations were particularly dependent on China’s demand for their soybeans, meaning most Iowans were relatively friendly towards China.
Cheng also said that while the overall direction of US-China relations was to be determined in Washington and Beijing, the relative independence of American state and city governments meant Qin had an opening: he could compensate for the deteriorating ties between the federal government and China by pushing for cooperation on a more local level.
“Qin Gang’s work is about making up for the poor state-to-state relations, he is doing what he can,” Cheng said.


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Qin Gang, China’s new ambassador to the US, continues seemingly friendly gestures, including a nod to Xi Jinping’s visits to Iowa
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Qin Gang, China’s new ambassador to the US, continues seemingly friendly gestures, including a nod to Xi Jinping’s visits to Iowa.


Xi Jinping