Video: Angry crowds asking for a free Tibet and more greet Xi Jinping in San Francisco

Chinese leader Xi Jinping's arrival at the venue of the APEC Summit in San Francisco was marked by significant shows of resistance. A banner at the venue that went up in the air over the Moscone Centre, the site of the APEC Summit,read: ‘End CCP, Free China, Free HK, Free Tibet, Free Uyghur’.

The banner called for an end to the rule of the Chinese Communist Party that Xi Jinping currently helms, as well as for the independence ofHong Kong, Tibet and freedom for Uyghur people who reside in the Xinjiang province of China.

Xi Jinping is scheduled to meet the Chinese leader Xi on Wednesday morning (US time) hours before his attendance at the annual summit of the 21-member Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) grouping.

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So far in 2023, Xi has avoided travelling to the countries with which Beijing is currently going through a phase of difficult ties. This includes the G20 summit in New Delhi which Xi avoided in the wake of continuous standoff between the troops of two Asian powers along the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

This is only Xi's third visit outside China, after visits to Russia and South Africa.

Xi's US visit comes amid heightened chip wars between Beijing and Washington and the self-ruled island of Taiwan's overwhelming dominance at that, which China territorially claims as its own.

'China has concentration camps'

But it's not all about resistance to the policies of Xi Jinping's Chinese Communist Party. According to reports, a large number of people of Chinese descent gathered outside the downtown hotel where Xi was expected to stay, with protesters as well as the CCP supporters playing patriotic music.

A Chinese woman held a placard asking Beijing's authorities to return her "husband's life". Another man held a sign that claimed that "China has concentration camps."

Over a thousand people are expected to congregate at the Moscone Centre with a focus on the US President Joe Biden's meeting with his Chinese counterpart.

(With inputs from agencies)