Protesters, Pro and Con, Rally At White House as Xi and Obama Meet

The Wall Street Journal

Erik S. Lesser/European Pressphoto Agency
3:52 pm ET
Sep 25, 2015

As President Xi Jinping and President Barack Obama gave a joint press conference in the Rose Garden, roars from hundreds of people gathered outside in both support and protest of Mr. Xi could be heard over the television broadcast.

Yellow police tape separated supporters of Mr. Xi and detractors who called on Mr. Obama to raise human rights concerns with the Chinese leader.

The supporters, who made up about half of those assembled, wore red shirts with a bald eagle and a panda holding up peace signs that read “China, USA partner to win-win.”

The protesters mostly represented two groups, one seeking Tibet’s independent from China and another speaking out against the Chinese state’s treatment of the Uighur ethnic group in Northwestern China.

The latter contingent waved light blue flags with a white star and crescent in support of the predominantly Muslim region in China called Xinjiang but known to Uighurs as East Turkestan. Chants of “shame on you Xi Jinping” and “stop lying to the world” could be heard over loudspeakers.

Rebiya Kadeer, a six-year political prisoner in China who was released to the U.S. in 2005, said many of those assembled with her group were people who had fled Xinjiang.

“We are here to protest human rights abuse in China,” Ms. Kadeer said.

Pema Yoko, executive director of students for a Free Tibet, said she hoped Mr. Obama would encourage Mr. Xi to improve human rights in Tibet, where she said people are not free to speak out against China’s rule. She was surrounded by people holding banners calling for a Free Tibet and a couple of people wearing white dragon masks and posing for pictures with other protesters and passersby.

“There are no human rights, there are no freedoms in Tibet,” Ms. Yoko said. “Under Xi Jinping’s leadership the human rights situation has gone from bad to worse.”

Kevin Zhang, a business student at Johns Hopkins University, was clad in one of the red shirts promoting U.S.-China ties. Holding mini Chinese and American flags in one hand, he said he came with other students from the area to welcome Mr. Xi to the U.S.

“In China it’s a big deal to see the president,” Mr. Zhang said. “It’s not like America, it’s almost like monarchy, like seeing the emperor. If you get the chance to see him that’s cool.”

Mr. Zhang and others in the group, including students from around Washington, members of the Chinese American Restaurant Service Association and other supporters, used loudspeakers to chant encouraging messages to Mr. Xi in Chinese, including one Mr. Zhang translated as, “Let’s go.”