REMARKS BY VICE PRESIDENT JOSEPH BIDEN
AT A LUNCH IN HONOR OF VICE PRESIDENT XI JINPING
OF THE PEOPLE』S REPUBLIC OF CHINA
J.W. Marriott
Los Angeles, California
VICE PRESIDENT BIDEN: Thank you very much. Mr. Mayor, let me begin
by thanking you for your hospitality. It』s good to be back in Los
Angeles, and I want to thank Governor Jerry Brown for hosting us as
well today.
It』s an honor to join you in welcoming Vice President Xi and all of
those who have traveled from China to be here, from the provinces as
well as the official delegation.
I was asked today what it』s like to spend so much time with Vice
President Xi, both in China and here, and I indicated then and I』ll
say it again -- it』s been a great pleasure getting to know him
personally.
The Vice President and I have gotten to spend more time with one
another than I think either of us anticipated when both our Presidents
indicated and instructed us to get to know one another better.
We had the opportunity to spend some time together last year in Italy
when we both were there representing our governments to celebrate the
unification of Italy at its 150th anniversary. And the Vice President
was kind enough to host me for four days in China, both in Beijing and
traveling to Chengdu with me.
And I can say with real sincerity that I』ve been looking forward to
the opportunity to return the hospitality that he has shown to me, and
this is the capstone to that visit with he and I here in Los Angeles.
I suspect all of you in this audience have traveled a great deal, and
I must tell you, the thing I have come to admire about my colleague is
his incredible physical stamina. (Laughter.) Since he arrived in the
United States on Monday, he started off with Dr. Kissinger and Zbig
Brzezinski and a number of very serious American diplomats and
strategists, and the next day he spent I think 13 or 14 hours with me,
starting early in the morning and going straight through to a dinner
at my home with members of our Cabinet and others ending late that
night.
And Governor, the next morning he left early to go to Muscatine, Iowa,
and Secretary Clinton and I said, better him than us. (Laughter.) I
think he got more delegates than either of us in Muscatine. (Laughter
and applause.) But I must -- I』m just telling you, it』s the measure
of the man. He wanted to go back and reacquaint himself with and
thank the people who had been hospitable to him 27 years earlier.
And then just to prove his stamina he came to Los Angeles, and from
here he leaves from Los Angeles to Ireland on his way to Turkey.
(Laughter.) The only place I can really help him is in Ireland. I
can get elected there. (Laughter.)
Mr. Vice President, you and I have spent a substantial amount of time
together, and that』s fairly rare in modern diplomacy. And let me add
that we』ve all been touched -- and I mean this sincerely -- by your
interest in our country, your desire to meet our people, and by the
personal relationships you』re forging here. It』s made a deep
impression.
As the former governors of California are in the room, as well as the
present governor can tell you, there are no people in the world that
know better than the people of California, that the United States of
America is a Pacific nation.
For generations, Californians have looked to the Asian-Pacific region
as a critical element of their prosperity. And now, it is critical to
our efforts, all of America's efforts, to put Americans back to work
and expand opportunity.
I would venture to say, if we added up the hours in the last six
months, the Vice President and I have probably spent 20 hours alone in
conversation. And we've pointed out that seven of our 15 largest
export markets -- America's export markets -- are in Asia, with China
now the foremost among them. Last year alone, the United States
exported to China more than $100 billion worth of goods and services,
supporting hundreds of thousands of American jobs. And those jobs
that are tied to exports are quality, high-paying jobs, estimated to
be worth more than 15 percent more than all other jobs in America.
And Mr. Vice President, as we've discussed, the faster the U.S.
economy grows, the more Chinese citizens will benefit as well. So
there is a great potential for both of us in working together to
increase and solidify this relationship. The Vice President has been
straightforward in the changes he'd like to see, and I have been
equally as straightforward in the changes that I'd like to -- we'd
like to see in our trade and economic relationship.
The Vice President indicated that China wants to invest more in the
United States. And we're working to make that easier, and there's a
whole lot of governors here who are looking forward to that.
(Laughter.) And thanks to the great work of our ambassador, Gary
Locke -- and Gary, stand up so everybody can see you. (Applause.)
Ambassador Locke was the Secretary of Commerce, as well as the -- when
he was governor of the state of Washington. His hallmark is getting
things done, and getting them done quickly.
Under the ambassador's leadership, we are now issuing more than a
million visas a year -- faster than ever before -- to Chinese
students, to tourists, as well as to businesspeople. (Applause.) I
assume that came from a student. (Laughter.) And I've explained the
things that we need to see for American companies and workers. Here
too, we're making real progress.
We very much want to see more of our businesses able to sell their
goods and services in China. And Vice President Xi has committed to
help make that possible. In this recent visit, China has opened its
market to American auto insurers and has taken concrete steps to
enforce intellectual property rights, and it has plans to reform its
tax system, which will help increase demand for American goods and
services by lowering taxes on so-called luxury goods.
As President Obama and I have told the Vice President and all of you
-- and many of you have witnessed personally -- China has made the
most remarkable progress in the shortest amount of time than maybe any
country in history. And we in our administration and in this country
welcome those gains. And I think American business leaders in this
room will agree that we all welcome the competition. I know American
workers welcome the competition. It not only pushes our companies to
develop better products and services and our government to craft
better policies, but it encourages our workers to be more cooperative
[sic] and to work even harder, increasing productivity.
But the crux of our discussions is that competition only benefits
everyone if the rules to the game are fair and followed. So we will
continue to work with the Vice President and the Chinese government to
make sure that everyone is playing by the same rules on a level
playing field. I strongly believe, and I think Vice President Xi does
as well, that the honest, sustained dialogue we've had this week can
and will build a stronger relationship that benefits both our nations
and our people.
And ladies and gentlemen, it is now my great pleasure to introduce to
you the Vice President of China, a man you are going to learn a great
deal more about for a good number of years, ladies and gentlemen, my
friend, Vice President Xi. (Applause.)