Xi Jinping is expected to visit the United States in late September, reportedly with a large business delegation, and a Chinese scholar says US sanctions lists will be a key issue Beijing presses. 
Donald Trump said recently that Xi and his wife, Peng Liyuan, will arrive in Washington on September 24 and be received with a state banquet. Sources told Reuters the delegation is partly meant to show China's willingness to build investment and commercial ties with the US and to give the White House some potential economic wins before the midterm elections.
Has Beijing announced the trip? The Chinese government has so far neither announced nor verified the visit or the delegation, CNA reported. Wu Xinbo, dean of the Institute of International Studies at Fudan University in Shanghai, told Hong Kong's Sing Tao Daily he had received no official word of Xi leading a business delegation to the US but believed it was possible.
What does Wu expect the delegation to achieve? Economic and trade ties have always been the core thread of China-US relations, Wu said. He said Trump led a high-powered corporate delegation to China in May, that Chinese business delegations have since visited the US, and that both sides want to improve economic cooperation. On whether the trip can yield large-scale deals, Wu said the two countries have a basis for economic and trade cooperation, with China interested in buying American farm products and Boeing aircraft and the US hoping to import some Chinese semi-finished equipment. But the visit will most likely centre on signalling a willingness to cooperate and may not see contracts signed on the spot, leaving them to be followed up and put in place step by step, he said.
Why does he single out sanctions? Where outside attention has focused on rare earths, farm products and tariffs, Wu said Washington has recently stepped up sanctions in quick succession on Chinese companies and institutions, placing more than 1,000 Chinese firms on its Entity List and introducing a military-linked list and a list restricting research institutions. In his assessment, Fudan and several other mainland universities and research institutes have also been caught up in the measures. The suppression is egregious in nature and will be a key issue for Beijing to take up, Wu said.
Figures referenced: Xi Jinping, Donald Trump. — JudgeMarket.
