Lunch, Not Dinner :U.S., China Remain At Odds Over Trip

Whether to Call Hu's Journey A 'State Visit' Reflects Precise Tool of Diplomacy

By NEIL KING JR., CHRISTOPHER COOPER and REBECCA BLUMENSTEIN Staff Reporters of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL August 31, 2005; Page A3

President Bush pulled out all the stops for Mexico, hosting a state dinner at the White House. He did the same for Poland, Kenya and the Philippines. But China, the world's new Goliath, isn't getting the same official "state visit" to the White House when President Hu Jintao comes to town next week.

That isn't stopping Beijing from touting the visit as one.

President Hu's tour through Washington next Wednesday will mark his first as head of state, and yet "it is not a state visit," White House spokesman Trent Duffy told reporters last week, adding for emphasis: "It is not an official state visit." Instead of a state dinner, Mr. Bush will host a lunch for Mr. Hu at the White House. Another administration official, who asked not to be identified, says, "All we've been classifying it as is just a visit. And the lunch is just a lunch."

Not so, say the Chinese. "This is going to be a state visit," He Yafei, head of the North America division for China's Foreign Ministry, said yesterday. Mr. He added that the itinerary and arrangements for Mr. Hu's trip will reflect that this is a state visit "according to our customs."

The differences -- lunch instead of dinner, arrival ceremony or no arrival ceremony -- may seem like hairsplitting. But for decades, the awarding of state visits has served as an important -- and precise -- tool of statecraft in Washington. The full treatment is reserved largely for close friends or nations being wooed by the U.S. Such symbolism matters a lot in China, too. Some China analysts say Mr. Hu would like a high-stature visit to consolidate his standing at home.

So some say the Chinese would be right to smell a snub, especially when tensions are running high over issues such as trade, oil diplomacy and military spending.

"This is clearly driven by the state of politics in the U.S. at the moment," said Kenneth Lieberthal, a top China adviser to President Clinton. "President Bush wants to keep this low-key."

Scrambling to smooth trans-Pacific feathers, the White House says both sides can characterize the visit however they please.

In English it will remain a simple visit; the Chinese can continue to call it a "guo shi fang wen," or official state visit. "The result is what you see -- a hybrid," says Aaron Friedberg, who served until July as Asia adviser to Vice President Cheney.

White House officials won't comment directly on why Mr. Hu's visit doesn't make the "state" cut.

"Each visit to the White House is unique, following different substantive and social formats," spokesman Frederick Jones said in an interview yesterday. He noted that the Chinese leader will get plenty of pomp: "President Hu will be offered full military honors upon his arrival, at a South Lawn arrival ceremony that will include a 21-gun salute." He added that Mr. Hu and his wife will stay overnight at Blair House, the guest house near the White House, and made a point of saying that, "by mutual agreement," the visitors would attend a luncheon as guests of the Bushes.

Laura Bowen Wills, deputy chief of protocol at the State Department during the Clinton administration, notes that official state visits long have had specific elements, including a formal arrival ceremony, a meeting with cabinet members, a luncheon at the State Department, a joint news conference, a state dinner at the White House and as many as three nights of lodging across the street at Blair House.

As of now, Mr. Hu isn't scheduled to have a State Department luncheon or a sit-down with Mr. Bush's cabinet. Nor, for now, are there plans for a joint news conference.

Even before the Hu visit, President Bush doled out state visits sparingly, compared with recent U.S. presidents. He has hosted just four in five years. President Clinton, a true fan of pomp, held 13 over the same span and more than 20 by the time he left office.

Lea Berman, social director for the office of First Lady Laura Bush, says the September 2001 terrorist attacks, coupled with wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, put a damper on the White House social schedule.

The Bushes also have been partial to entertaining heads of state at their ranch in Crawford, Texas. "A lot of people like the intimacy down there," Ms. Berman said.

Mr. Hu's advance team angled for both an official state dinner and a Crawford visit afterward, U.S. officials say. In the end, they got neither.

Mr. Bush is scheduled to visit China this year, perhaps in November. Chinese officials said yesterday that it was too early to comment on preparations for that trip.