As the Valley's weekend of political meetings continued, Governor Jerry Brown met with Chinese President Xi Jinping Saturday in Indian Wells.
The two discussed various topics, including trade, investment, climate change, technology, infrastructure, tourism, education and agriculture, according to an announcement from the California office of the governor. Their meeting was about 40 minutes long.
Due to security reasons, the meeting could only be covered by select media, who provided a pool report. The following was reported by The Desert Sun's Erica Felci:
The meeting between California Gov. Jerry Brown and Chinese President Xi Jinping began at 12:50, about 40 minutes behind schedule after the president was delayed at Sunnylands.
Reporters were brought into the room after President Xi and his wife, First Lady Peng Liyuan, were already there. They stood in the middle of the room and greeted Brown and his wife, California First Lady Anne Gust Brown, with handshakes.
They were then introduced to members of their delegations before taking seats in large armchairs at the front of the meeting room.
Their wives also sat in comfortable armchairs, flanking their husbands. Peng wore a dress with a suit coat; Gust Brown wore a striped dress.
Eleven members of the Chinese delegation, all wearing dark suits, joined the meeting. The Browns had a six-person entourage.
After exchanging warm greetings, Xi opened the meeting by saying that seeing Brown at the Ontario International Airport on Thursday and again today was like seeing "an old friend of mine."
"I recall very well of my visit to the state of California 16 months ago and since that visit, I can tell that, as governor, you have made efforts to promote these changes," Xi said, according to the translator.
Xi specifically mentioned the California-China Office of Trade and Investment that Brown opened during his trip to China in April.
"I can see the outcomes of your efforts," Xi added through translation. "I believe you can claim the bulk of all those achievements."
Xi also took a moment to thank Gust Brown for giving his wife a tour of the Palm Springs Art Museum on Friday.
"She was greatly impressed," he said via translator.
Brown then opened the meeting by saying that "we're very excited in California" that President Obama and Xi chose to have their retreat in Rancho Mirage.
"It is a great privilege for me to meet with you, especially after the important work done at Sunnylands," Brown said.
"You grace our state with your presence."
Brown and Xi were expected to spend about 20 minutes discussing trade and investment as well as climate change, according to the governor's office.
"California looks to the entire Pacific, but to China in particular, for our economic advantage," Brown said in his opening remarks.
"We do so remembering that Chinese people have been coming to California since the gold rush back in 1848. So we feel that we have a very long foundation to build on as we work on mutual problems together."
The meeting wound up lasting closer to 40 minutes.
Reporters were only allowed in the room for the first seven minutes of the exchange.
Afterward, Brown met pool reporters in the hallway and said "the meeting went very well."
"I first of all told the president and his wife that they added sparkle and excitement to our state," Brown said. "And then we discussed the way that California can work with a number of provinces in China to advance our mutual goals of new energy technologies, agriculture, tourism and exchange of students and scientists."
Brown said Xi was "very encouraging to the notion that states can play a very important role in advancing trade and technology and science.”
"California is playing that role already. But there will be an intensified opportunity working with specific provinces in China on the various issues we talked about," Brown said.
Brown said Xi "mentioned the topics that they covered" at Sunnylands but didn't go into many specifics.
"He said they went very well," Brown said of Xi's impression of the two-summit. "I would say he gave a very upbeat account of his meeting with President Obama."
Brown said they also discussed California's role in the global economy.
"We intend to step up our activities in China and we look forward to Chinese investment here in California," Brown said after the meeting.
"The president definitely mentioned the fact that China has huge sums of capital they 're looking to deploy around the world and that California would be one of the spots of focus."
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