Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lu Kang's Regular Press Conference On September 16th announced: At the invitation of US President Barack Obama, President Xi Jinping will visit America from September 22th to 25th. At the same time, at the invitation of the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon, President Xi Jinping will attend the 70th anniversary summit of the establishment of the United Nations in New York from September 26th to 28th.
CCTV news channel reported: this is an important state visit with the two sides facing the future planning on relations between the two countries after the Sino-US relations have entered a new historical stage". Another CCTV news evaluation said: from the bilateral aspect, the visit is Xi Jinping's first to America after he becomes the President of the PRC;from the multilateral aspect, the visit is Xi Jinping's first time to walk on the UN podium; so all circles are very concerned with this trip to the United States.This state visit is also Xi Jinping's first state visit to America after he became the President. Xi Jinping and Obama had a "non-fight tie meeting Manor" in Annenberg estate in California of the United States in 2013.In November 2014, Obama first visited China, walked and talked with Xi Jinping in Yingtai, an imperial palace on an island within Zhongnanhai in the evening.
According to U.S. media reports, Xi Jinping's visit to America will start from Seattle, and he will attend the round table forum held for businessmen. The Wall Street Journal reports says that the founder of Microsoft, Bill Gates will entertain Xi Jinping in his house in Seattle. Then Xi Jinping will travel to Washington and talk with the U. S. President Barack Obama. After finishing the visit, Xi will go to new York to attend the 70th anniversary summit of the establishment of the United Nations and deliver a speech there.
Some American officials said on Wednesday that U.S. President Barack Obama will treat Xi Jinping Ambassador Specifications. These officials said President Xi Jinping may meet some of the main members of Congress in Washington, but not deliver a speech in Congress.
At the same time, in February this year, U.S. House Speaker John Boehner has confirmed that the Pope Francis has accepted the invitation to visit America in September, and will deliver a speech in the United States Congress. The itinerary is that the Pope will deliver a speech in Congress on September 24th and Pope Francis will also become the first Pope who addresses in the United States Congress in the history.
Pope Francis is expected to visit the White House and deliver a speech in the United Nations; in addition, he will also attend the World Family Congress was held in Philadelphia. This is the Pope Francis' first visit to the United States.
The date of the visit of Xi Jinping and Pope Francis to the United States and the United Nations is just very close, which can be described as a succession; we do not know whether two people will meet each other or not. Chinese media also said curiously that "That just the US intends to arrange or belongs to coincidence". Pope Francis will deliver a speech in Congress on September 24 and Mr Xi will also arrive in Washington on that day.
Although two people did not have a formal meeting before, but the two had a friendly communication with each other by letters. In March,2014, Pope Francis accepted the interview of Italy media and discuss the Chinese issue for the first time; he revealed that he and Xi Jinping exchange letters.
Subsequently in August 2014, during a visit to South Korea, Pope Francis had proposed to strengthen diplomatic contacts with Beijing and was willing to travel to China for a visit. Pope Francis flied to South Korea through Chinese territorial air, and he became the first Vatican leader to complete that thing. When his special plane flying over Chinese territorial air, Pope Francis sent greetings to the President Xi Jinping and the Chinese people by telegram, according to the rites of the church. In the message, Pope Francis said that on entering into China's airspace, I sent good wishes to Chinese President Xi Jinping and the Chinese people praying for peace. The move is considered as a step to improve the relations between China and the Vatican.
September 2014, media in Italy exposed that the Pope Francis personally signed a private letter to invite Chinese President Xi Jinping to reach Vatican to discuss the issue of world peace, but he also expressed that for the same purpose, if appropriate, he visited Beijing "tomorrow". However, the Holy See did not comment this message and said "no comment", but they did not deny that.
