Iowa's governor ready to greet Xi

Branstad excited about US visit by Chinese president, who shares a special bond with people of Hawkeye State

For Terry Branstad, the Republican governor of Iowa, Xi Jinping's state visit to the United States is a renewal of the friendship between the Chinese president and the people of Iowa.

Branstad first met the president in 1985 when Xi, then a county official in northern Hebei province, led a five-member agricultural delegation to Hebei's sister state of Iowa.