China's president, Tacoma high school students exchange gifts

TACOMA (AP) -- Students at Tacoma's Lincoln High School gave Chinese President Xi Jinping a football and a personalized jersey when he visited the school as part of a whirlwind day of public appearances Wednesday.

Xi reportedly gave the students some books, a ping pong table and an invitation to students to visit China next year.

China's president toured a classroom and heard the school's drum line in the auditorium.

Xi first visited Tacoma 22 years ago while striking a sister city relationship between the port city and Fuzhou, China, where Xi was a regional leader.

Lincoln High School was the last public stop on a day that saw Xi meet with business leaders in Seattle and tour Boeing's airplane production facility in Everett and Microsoft's campus in Redmond.

Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos, the founders of Facebook and Amazon, joined Xi and other tech executives for a tour of the sprawling suburban Microsoft campus.

Xi was shown several demonstrations Wednesday of high-tech products, including a large device for data manipulation.

Protesters holding signs in English and Chinese lined the streets outside Microsoft in Redmond, Washington.

Xi leaves Thursday morning for Washington, D.C.