In the United States and at the United Nations, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will have to vie with two big stars — Pope Francis and Chinese President Xi Jinping. The Pope’s US tour began on Tuesday as he arrived in Washington DC. On Thursday, he will be in New York to attend the UN Sustainable Development Summit. President Xi, on his first state visit to the US, on Tuesday arrived at Seattle — the other tech capital on the West Coast. In a measure of the importance of the US’s relations with the world’s second largest economy, Xi’s packed bilateral itinerary will culminate with a 21-gun salute and a black-tie state dinner hosted by President Obama at the White House on Friday. The highlight of the visit also includes his highly anticipated speech at the UN General Assembly. [related-post] At a power dinner in Seattle, Xi met 650 heads of some of the largest US business houses, including the CEOs of Microsoft, Amazon. Former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger was also in the audience. Making a strong pitch for a more stable US-China relationship, Xi sought to give assurances on a range of issues that haunt China’s relationship with the US, including human rights, cyber attacks, intellectual property rights, non-discriminatory policies for foreign businesses etc. “If China and the US cooperate well, they can become a bedrock of global stability. Should they enter into conflict or confrontation, it would lead to disaster for both countries and the world at large,” The New York Times quoted Xi as saying. On Thursday, he will meet President Obama for the bilateral talks. At the United Nations too, Xi has a packed schedule. China is hosting a South-South meeting of developing countries to which India has been invited. China is also co-hosting a Global Leaders Meeting on General Equality and Women’s Empowerment with the UN on September 27. A day after, President Xi will address the UN General Assembly where he is likely to speak on the question of UN reforms. According to The New York Times, Xi’s speech will underline China’s status as a charter member of the UN and co-founder of the post-war world order as well as a member of the UN’s Permanent Five (P5). This year, Prime Minister Modi will not attend the UN General Assembly. In his place, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will address the General Assembly. On the other hand, Pope Francis, the spiritual leader of 1.2 billion Catholics worldwide, was welcomed by President Obama on his arrival at Joint Base Andrews on Tuesday. On Wednesday, he will meet President Obama at the White House. On Thursday, he will address the joint session of the Congress. In New York, one of the first public engagements of the Pope is to lead a service at the iconic St Patrick’s Cathedral. On Friday morning, he will address the UN summit. The Pope has been outspoken about some of the issues central to the summit, including climate change. He has said that acting on climate change is “essential to faith”, and blamed “crass consumerism” for the destruction of the environment, which he has termed as a “modern sin”. The same evening, he will lead a procession of 80,000 people through Central Park. Later, he will lead a mass at the Madison Square Garden, the venue where the non-resident Indian community held a public reception for Modi last year. He will leave for Philadelphia the next day.
