Protests and counterprotests staged during Xi Jinping’s D.C. visit

WASHINGTON—At least three separate groups on Friday crowded the sidewalk across the street from the National Archives where President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping met. One group waved American and Chinese flags in counterprotest to another crowd, which also held various banners, including one calling Xi the “terminator of freedom.” Off to the side, a smaller cluster of people dressed in yellow held a banner that said, “Help stop persecution of Falun Gong in China.”

Yibo Huang, a Chinese immigrant, was a part of the yellow-dressed demonstrators. He said he was very happy when he moved to the United States in 1989 because he could “feel the freedom.” He said the group he represented was associated with the Falun Dafa, or Falun Gong, religion, and was there to protest the oppression of Falun Gong practitioners by the Chinese Communist Party. Huang also said that he thought it was great that Trump brought Xi to the United States, because it exposed China to the world stage.

“This is really a great time to let the world know—if you, China, want to go to the world stage, you have to stop persecuting the religious people,” Huang said. “You need to stop the labor camps, you need to stop controlling the media. You need to keep your enemy close. That’s what [Trump] is doing. I agree with that.”

Another protester, Bing Ge, was a part of the larger group with the banners denouncing Xi. Ge said he was there as a volunteer, but the group he was with represented the Chinese Democracy Party. Ge said Friday was his third day of protesting, and that he had traveled from Los Angeles. He also urged the United States to be cautious about allying itself with China.

“The Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, now makes a deal with President Trump, but this is not good. Because, all the promises made by the CCP, they will lie … you cannot trust the CCP,” said Gi.

Gi said he believed the counterprotesters waving the Chinese and American flags had been hired by the Chinese Communist Party. When I approached a few of those protesters, they only spoke broken English and were unwilling to talk to the press, but one of their banners read, “United Fujian American Women’s Friendship Association.”

Dig deeper: Read my report on one of the major topics of discussion between Trump and Xi this week.