San Francisco, Sep 22 (EFE).– Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday began his first state visit to the United States in Seattle, the first stop on his U.S. tour that will include New York and Washington, where he will meet with his U.S. counterpart Barack Obama.

Xi will spend three days in Seattle, where he will hold meetings with business and technology leaders, before heading to Washington to meet with the president, and then to New York.

Obama is scheduled to speak frankly to Xi about Washington’s concerns about cyber-spying and tensions in the South China Sea, as U.S. National Security Adviser Susan Rice said in a speech on Monday.

Xi said in an article published on Tuesday by The Wall Street Journal that cyber-espionage and computer piracy are illegal and that the Chinese government does not support the stealing of trade secrets and does not encourage companies or groups that do so.

The Chinese leader will participate on Tuesday evening at a dinner hosted by business organizations and will be honored on Wednesday by Microsoft founder Bill Gates, who will welcome Xi to his home in Seattle.

Xi is also scheduled to visit the facilities of aviation firm Boeing during his stay in Seattle and he will meet with Apple CEO Tim Cook, among other top executives.

Pope Francis Arrives in the U.S. Capital

Pope Francis arrived in the United States on Tuesday on the second leg of the official visit that first took him to Cuba for four days, a trip laden with symbolism due to the role the pontiff played in the reconciliation between the two nations.

The Alitalia Airbus A330-200 landed at 3:50 p.m. at Andrews Air Base, outside Washington, where it was met by President Barack Obama and the rest of the first family.

The president and the pope greeted each other with a long handshake, and afterwards it was the turn of Michelle Obama, presidential daughters Sasha and Malia, and the first lady’s mother, Marian Robinson, as well as Vice President Joe Biden, his wife Jill and two of their granddaughters.

Several hundred people awaited the pope at the air base for several hours and welcomed him with shouts of “Francis, Francis.”

Among the crowd were many children from Catholic schools in Washington, of whom four had been selected to present the pontiff with flowers upon his arrival.

As scheduled, Francis made no public statement either after landing or after the brief encounter he held with Obama in a room at the base before departing for the residence of the papal nuncio in Washington.

Faithful to his simple style, the pope elected to travel from the air base to Washington in a black Fiat 500.

Also present at the base to greet the pontiff were Washington Mayor Muriel Browser and the governors of Maryland – Larry Hogan – and Virginia, Terry McAuliffe.

In addition, greeting the pope on his arrival were Cardinal Archbishop Donald W. Wuerl of Washington and Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Pope Francis will be in the United States through Sunday, visiting Washington, New York and Philadelphia.

This visit comes after the resumption of diplomatic relations between Cuba and the United States, a process that was mediated by Vatican diplomacy. EFE