Chinese President Xi Jinping reaffirmed a decades-long friendship with Iowa residents this week by sending a Chinese New Year card to friends in the U.S. state, marking 41 years since his first visit to the region in 1985. The gesture follows a letter from Luca Berrone, a board member of Iowa Sister States, who conveyed holiday wishes on behalf of local communities and reiterated support for cross-cultural exchanges.
Berrone, a longtime advocate for U.S.-China ties, has championed the '50,000 in 5 Years' Initiative launched by Xi during his 2023 visit to San Francisco. The program aims to bring 50,000 young Americans to the Chinese mainland for educational exchanges by 2028, fostering grassroots connections amid evolving bilateral relations.
Xi's personal engagement with Iowa dates to his 1985 agricultural research trip as a county-level official. Analysts view this latest exchange as a strategic effort to stabilize people-to-people ties between the two nations through cultural diplomacy.
