This time, the demonstrators were matched by bused-in supporters who blared the Chinese national anthem in counterpoint to the protesters' bullhorns. Dong Liang, a 28-year-old art student from Providence, R.I., boarded a bus before sunrise with four friends to see the president.
"There is a perception here that China is a threat to America. He is here to say that is not true and good relations are very important to each other," he said.
The language of business leaders Hu met with this week in Seattle seemed to have rubbed off on him; he talked about "win-win outcomes" in joint ventures in China, and how his country's economic development lifted markets around the world.
He spoke about China's consistent 9% annual growth over two decades that had lifted millions of its 1.3 billion people out of poverty.
But in an effort to downplay the power of the surging economy as Beijing holds a growing trade surplus with the U.S., he noted that China's per-capita gross domestic product was about $1,700 and that his country did not rank in the world's top 100.
"China's development will not compromise the interests of other nations, nor will China's development threaten anyone," he said.
Hu asserted that China's attention was focused not on exercising influence on world affairs, but on the internal struggle to resolve imbalances between wealthy urban centers and poor rural areas and maintain "social harmony."
"We need to concentrate our energy and resources on resolving those problems, and that's why we hope to see a peaceful international environment," he said.
