Giving A Warm (?) Seattle Welcome To…
Under gorgeous blue skies and heavy security, China’s President Hu Jintao arrived in Seattle for a visit with local leaders, including Christine Gregoire, Bill and Melinda Gates, former governor Gary Locke, and Alan Mulally of Boeing.
I’d expected more protests, but apart from small demonstrations downtown and at Microsoft, protest was muted. I drove through downtown about 2 PM today and saw a hundred or so Falun Gong and Taiwanese supporters on the streets, orders of magnitude less than the immigrant-rights demonstrations.
In China itself, China’s government-controlled news agency Xinhua hasn’t yet taken note of the Washington state visit, but did announce a new round of copyright enforcement efforts. It’s probably not coincidental that this announcement came just as President Hu was meeting with Bill Gates.
Buddhists were under strict orders to not protest, which I’m sure cut down on the bodies protesting.