As a crowd of Midwesterners drank, danced and snacked on deep-fried Twinkies at the Iowa inaugural ball in the capital last month, an aide to Terry Branstad ushered a small group of Chinese dignitaries upstairs to a private room.
When they saw the man President Donald Trump picked to become ambassador to China, members of the group whipped out their smartphones for photos. Another flurry erupted when Branstad came downstairs, with about 30 Chinese guests jostling for access to the long-time state governor, according to three people with direct knowledge of the situation who asked not to be identified.
