China’s Ambassador to the U.S. Qin Gang received a very warm reception at the U.S.-China High-Level Agricultural Dialogue in Des Moines, Iowa on April 21, sponsored by the U.S.-China Heartland Association. Ambassador Qin traveled personally to Des Moines for this event, together with his wife. This is part of a three-day tour by Ambassador Qin, to visit farms and agricultural facilities in the Midwest.
There was also enthusiastic discussion at the event about the earlier visits by Xi Jinping, as a young man and later as vice president of China, and earlier visits to Iowa by his father, Xi Zhongxun. There was a discussion by the moderator, retired Ambassador Kenneth Quinn about the relationship between Iowa’s Norman Borlaug (well known for his work in China) and China’s Yuan Longping, the father of hybrid rice. The whole atmosphere was like a different world—one that existed prior to the U.S. establishment’s demonization of China.
