Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping will conclude his four-day visit to United States Friday with a series of events in Los Angeles.

The Chinese leader-in-waiting will begin the day with a speech at the China-U.S. Economic Trade Forum, accompanied by U.S. counterpart Joe Biden, Xi's formal host during his visit. The two men will later visit a school and meet with a group of U.S. governors.

He will end his visit with a trip to the city's Staples Center to see a National Basketball Assocaiton game featuring the hometown Lakers and the Phoenix Suns.

Xi on Thursday visitied the Port of Los Angeles, a key transport hub for China-U.S. trade. Accompanied by California Governor Jerry Brown and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Xi toured the terminal for the China Shipping company, which is undergoing a major expansion.

Xi, who is expected to become China's president next year, said the port and its expansion are a “solid foundation” for future economic cooperation between the two countries.

Despite an overall warm welcome, U.S. leaders have not turned away from sensitive issues. Biden and U.S. President Barack Obama raised human rights concerns with Xi during meetings at the White House Tuesday.

On Wednesday, during Xi's visit to Congress, House Speaker John Boehner presented Xi with a letter concerning Gao Zhisheng, a prominent human rights lawyer in China who went missing nearly two years ago. Senator John McCain says he brought up a wave of self-immolations by Tibetan monks protesting Chinese rule, as well as China's veto of a United Nations resolution on Syria.

“As I just mentioned to the vice president, there has been enormous and dynamic economic progress, but we still have Tibetan monks burning themselves to death, we have Nobel Prize winners in house arrest and the continued propping up of North Korea, a brutal regime.”

During a major policy speech in Washington Wednesday, Xi demanded that the United States respect Chinese claims to sovereignty over Tibet and Taiwan. He also called for more balanced economic ties between the two countries and closer cooperation on international problems, including tensions over North Korea and Iran.

Tibetan protesters have turned out at several events during Xi's four-day tour, including a stop in Iowa.

Xi visited an Iowa farming community Wednesday, 27 years after he first visited the area as a mid-level official.

He spent an hour sipping tea with residents in the town of Muscatine, and many said he remembered faces and recited events from his previous visit in 1985. Officials traveling with Xi announced plans to purchase $4.3 billion worth of U.S. soybeans.