My letter to Xi Jinping on China's cotton problem Read full article Oops! Chinese President Xi Jinping applauds during the closing session of the National People's Congress (NPC) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Thursday, March 11, 2021. China's ceremonial legislature on Thursday endorsed the ruling Communist Party's latest move to tighten control over Hong Kong by reducing the role of its public in picking the territory's leaders. (AP Photo/Sam McNeil) Dear President Xi Jinping, I’m writing to you respectfully as a citizen of the United States and of the world. In 2016 I wrote a letter to then President Trump and again in November of 2019 where I offered some unsolicited advice. I’d like to do the same to you today. There’s much to sort out right now in the U.S.-China relationship and with your country’s place in the world, too much to go through in one letter. So I’m going to focus on the issue of Chinese cotton, important unto itself, but also connected to everything else.