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Post Chinese Leader's First Stop on US Trip Focuses on Trade Issues

Chinese President Hu Jintao is in the United States for his first visit as his country's leader. His trip started Tuesday in the western U.S. state of Washington, where his meetings with American corporate leaders are throwing the spotlight on economic issues. He meets with President Bush in the White House on Thursday.
Experts say Hu Jintao's U.S. visit is likely to focus on trade, so his tours of two U.S. companies in Washington state, Microsoft and Boeing, come as no surprise.
The U.S. computer software company Microsoft is the largest in the world. The visit there is important, since China last week announced it was going to sell computers in China with pre-loaded software, as part of efforts to curb pirated software. Meanwhile, China also recently announced a multi-billion dollar deal to purchase 80 Boeing aircraft.
Economic relations between the two countries are important, especially since China currently has a $200 billion trade surplus with the United States. But the American Enterprise Institute's Phillip Swagel says he thinks there is too much attention being paid to economics, at the expense of other important issues. "I think the focus on the currency and some aspects of the economy is really a waste of time, at best, and at worst, a distraction from important issues, like Korea, Iran," he said.
Security issues also loom large for Randall Schriver, a former State Department official who now works for private international consulting firm, Armitage International. Other issues he would add to the list include Taiwan, South Asia and energy security.
The two leaders were originally to have met last year at all-day meeting at the Bush ranch in Crawford, Texas. But that meeting was cancelled because of Hurricane Katrina. Now Schriver says the two sides may not have enough time to cover all the subjects. "We were supposed to have this [Bush-Hu meeting] last September, before [Hurricane] Katrina. But the U.S. invitation was originally for Hu Jintao to visit at Crawford and to have very extensive, full-day consultations with President Bush. And I think that would have been such a forum where they could have gone into greater detail and depth on a whole range of issues, including security issues. I think that won't be the case in a short Oval office meeting and lunch," he said.
Meanwhile, human rights activists are also unhappy with the focus on trade and economics. Groups like Amnesty International, Reporters Without Borders and the International Campaign for Tibet are voicing concern that human rights issues will be overlooked, during a meeting Tuesday of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus.
"As President Bush prepares to meet with President Hu Jintao this week, I.C.T. urges him to forcefully, in his private meetings and his public appearances, to raise the issue of the dismal state of human rights right now in Tibet," he said. "Reporters Without Borders is calling on President Bush to raise the issue of news censorship and repression against journalists and cyber-dissidents, when he meets with President Hu Jintao in two days."
Critics accuse U.S. computer companies of helping Beijing censor the Chinese public's access to the Internet. In the most serious example, Yahoo provided information to the Chinese government that was used to imprison a dissident for 10 years. The companies say they are only following Chinese law.
Amnesty International's T. Kumar says it is ironic that President Hu is having dinner Tuesday with hundreds of American businessmen, at the Washington state home of Microsoft founder Bill Gates. "President Hu will arrive today and he will have parties at Microsoft chairman's house. We have Microsoft, Google, Yahoo, everybody who was involved in helping Chinese enforce censorship," he said.
The Washington state stop, with its emphasis on business and trade ties, is just part of the Chinese leader's U.S. visit. He is also going to the White House for talks with President Bush on a wider range of issues, including security and human rights. Mr. Bush said he is looking forward to the meeting. "The president of China is coming to Washington on Thursday. It is a very important visit," he said.
From Washington, President Hu visits Yale University, before leaving the United States Friday.


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Default Chinese President has arrived in the United States for talks with

Chinese President Hu Jintao has arrived in the United States for talks with President Bush and key business leaders.
Mr. Hu's first stop on his four-day American visit was to the northwestern state of Washington, where he held talks with Bill Gates, the chairman of computer software giant Microsoft. Later Tuesday he is to attend a dinner with 100 business, government and community leaders to be hosted by Washington State Governor Christine Gregoire.
On Wednesday, he is scheduled to tour a Boeing commercial aircraft plant before heading to Washington, D.C., for a meeting with President Bush.
Many storefronts in Seattle's Chinatown hung Chinese and U.S. flags to greet Mr. Hu, but there were also demonstrations by dozens of Taiwanese, Tibetan and Falun Gong advocates.
The Chinese president is to meet with Mr. Bush at the White House Thursday. Officials say the two leaders will discuss a variety of issues, including U.S. demands that China reform its currency and the Asian country's $200 billion trade surplus with the United States.
Mr. Hu is likely to call on the United States to reaffirm its stance that Taiwan is part of mainland China, while President Bush is expected to bring up China's human rights record. The two sides are also slated to discuss nuclear negotiations with North Korea and Iran.
The Chinese president's visit with Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates comes after years of battling widespread software piracy in the lucrative Chinese market. The software developer and representatives of one of the world's largest computer companies, Chinese-based Lenovo, agreed on Monday to pre-install Microsoft's Windows operating system on its computers.
Mr. Hu's tour of the aircraft factory comes following this month's agreement for Beijing to purchase 80 Boeing aircraft, a deal worth $4.6 billion.


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Post Economic Issues Dominate Start of Chinese President's US Trip

Chinese President Hu Jintao, in the first stop of a four-day visit to the United States, focused on business in meetings that took place in the western U.S. city of Seattle, in Washington state. The highlight of his U.S. trip is a meeting with President Bush at the White House on Thursday.

Economic relations between the United States and China took the spotlight during the Chinese leader's stop in the state of Washington.

President Hu had dinner Tuesday night with hundreds of American business leaders at the home of Microsoft founder Bill Gates, whom Forbes magazine names the richest man in the world. In his toast, President Hu said since Gates is a friend of China, he is a friend of Gates' company, Microsoft.
Chinese President Hu Jintao at Boeing plant on US visit
On Wednesday, President Hu toured a Boeing plant. China recently announced a multi-billion dollar deal to purchase 80 Boeing aircraft.

The Chinese leader is expected to face a wider range of issues in Washington, the U.S. capital. These subjects include American concerns about nuclear programs in Iran and North Korea and about China's human rights record.

Although the issue of human rights in China has been overshadowed by trade, continuing U.S. interest in human rights was underscored by Congressman Chris Smith, who on Wednesday chaired a House of Representatives subcommittee hearing on the issue. In his opening remarks, he said critics of Beijing have a long list of concerns.

"...especially such areas as China's censorship of the Internet, implementation of the right of Chinese citizens to worship freely, protection of minority rights, compliance with international labor standards, China's barbaric practice of organ harvesting, and the destructive effects on Chinese society, and especially on women, of its government's coercive one-child per couple policy."

Meanwhile, foreign policy experts say they expect President Bush to discuss global security issues with President Hu, including concerns over nuclear programs in Iran and North Korea. Other issues that could come up include Taiwan and concerns over energy security.

The economic issues will likely focus on the record 200-billion dollar U.S. trade deficit with China and U.S. allegations that Beijing artificially keeps its currency undervalued.

There are no expectations of any major announcements, though, which Minxin Pei, at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, says is apparently fine with both countries. "I think both sides have played a very good game of lowering the expectations for this visit, so the expectations have been set very low. So, if nothing happens, it will be viewed as a success. If something happens, it will be viewed as a spectacular success," he said.

President Bush welcomes the Chinese president at the White House Thursday. Twelve American organizations, including the U.S.-China Business Council and the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations, are hosting a dinner for President Hu in Washington Thursday night.

On Friday, he will make what is expected to be a major policy speech at Yale University, in the U.S. state of Connecticut

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Post Experts Predict Increasing Friction in US-China Economic Relationship

China's president, Hu Jintao, comes to Washington later this week for a meeting with President Bush, and economic issues are likely to figure high on the agenda of the talks between the two leaders. On Monday, the Washington-based Institute for International Economics hosted a forum to discuss those issues.
China's economy has doubled in size since 1997 when a Chinese president last visited Washington. Beijing's economy continues to grow fast, registering a 10 percent growth rate in the first three months of the year. Nick Lardy, a China specialist at the economics institute, expects that rapid growth will continue. "I don't know if we'll continue at exactly those rates in the indefinite future, but the expectation should be that this economy will continue to grow rapidly, that its trade will continue to grow more rapidly than its domestic economy and that it will continue to have an increasingly expanding global footprint," he said.
Already the world's fourth largest economy, if current growth rates continue, China in 30 years would overtake the United States to become the world's biggest economy.
Certain to be discussed in the meetings between Presidents Hu and Bush will be China's large trade surplus with the United States, which added up to 200-billion dollars last year.
Many U.S. analysts blame the imbalance in large part on China's currency, which they say is artificially undervalued. This makes Chinese goods cheap in dollar terms and gives exporters an unfair trade advantage. Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick says while China claims it wishes to revalue its currency to redress the imbalance, substantive change has been slow. "China seems to be saying the right things. It seems to be embedded in its program. The head of the Peoples Bank talks about this in a way that suggests they are going to move in the right direction. But the process of change seems agonizingly slow," he said.
Since abandoning its decade long peg to the dollar last July, China's currency, the yuan, has gained only three percent against the dollar.
If the revaluation of the yuan continues at this slow pace, Fred Bergsten, the director of the Institute for International Economics, says anti-China protectionist sentiment in the U.S. Congress could escalate, particularly if U.S. growth slows from its current three percent pace. "So just think what happens if the US economy turns down, unemployment turns up, the global trade deficit hits a trillion dollars, the bilateral deficit (with China) hits 300 billion dollars and rises. That is a formula for all hell breaking out, in terms of the world trading system," he said.
Speakers at the forum described China's economic advance over the past decade as both momentous and challenging. Though U.S. economists may question Beijing's currency policies, many speakers at Monday's forum had high praise for other aspects of China economy, describing it as wide open to trade and investment and one in which market forces are now dominant.

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Post Hu Goes to Washington to Ease Sino-US Trade Tensions

Chinese President Hu Jintao heads to Washington this week for his first official visit to the White House. Mr. Hu will seek to appease growing anger in the U.S. over what some Americans say are China's unfair trading practices. Mr. Hu also hopes to try to convince Washington and the American people that China's economic rise and its rising profile in Asia are no threat to U.S. interests.
Standing outside an American fast-food restaurant in downtown Beijing, 27-year-old Ya Li - a resident of the capital - expresses dismay that anyone in the United States would see China as a threat.
"We are still a developing country. We are still developing our economy, giving it priority. Furthermore, we cannot threaten other countries," Ya says.
A number of Chinese polled, like Ms. Ya, say they do not understand the anger that has been rising in the United States, largely over the Chinese exports that have been flooding the U.S. market.
The flow of Chinese goods bloated the U.S. trade deficit with China to more than 200 billion dollars last year - the highest on record. Some Americans blame the imbalance for the loss of U.S. jobs and many accuse the Chinese government of keeping its currency weak to keep its exports strong and discourage imports of American goods.
The Bush administration also says the deficit has been fueled in part by Beijing's failure to crack down on China's illegal copying of U.S. trademarked products.
President Bush says he is looking forward to his April 20th meeting with Mr. Hu, but has put the Chinese leader on notice that he hopes China is prepared to take real action to ease U.S. trade concerns.
Chinese officials have given no indication they will make any concrete concessions of the type the Bush administration seeks on this visit. They say, instead, that the trip's agenda will focus on resolving trade disputes through consultation, and on improving China's image. Vice Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi briefed reporters on Friday ahead of Mr. Hu's departure.
"This visit will increase mutual understanding and promote relations between the two countries. This visit will play a very significant role in this aspect," Yang says.

As part of an image-building campaign ahead of the visit, a delegation of Chinese officials and businesspeople led by Vice Premier Wu Yi toured the United States, signing billions of dollars' worth of contracts for the purchase of airplanes, software, auto parts, farm products and other items.
On Friday, the government eased some restrictions on foreign exchange dealings, making it easier for companies and individuals to acquire foreign currency to use in investments or travel overseas.
China's new efforts to appease U.S. anger follow the introduction of legislation in the U.S. Congress to impose tariffs and other sanctions on Chinese products.
Yuan Zheng is a research fellow at the Institute of American Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, a government think tank in Beijing. He says the Chinese see American retaliatory actions on trade as dangerous to overall relations.
"This is confrontation, which will backfire. The Bush administration has been leading the development of China-U.S. relations in the last couple of years and it has done a good job. Trade problems can be solved through negotiations," Yuan says.
The Chinese appear to have made modest headway in their campaign to ease tensions. Washington has welcomed recent promises to increase U.S. access to Chinese markets and improve enforcement of intellectual property rights.
Those promises came from Wu Yi at a meeting a few days ago of the U.S. China Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade. China agreed to reopen its market to U.S. beef and lower other trade barriers. Vice Premier Wu also announced plans to open 50 trial courts to deal with copyright infringements.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez called the Chinese pledges a positive step, but said much work remains to be done.
Chinese officials have given no indication that they will make any concessions on other sensitive fronts, such as China's human rights record, which U.S. officials say they consider an important part of the meeting between Mr. Bush and Mr. Hu.
The United States has repeatedly condemned China for systemic abuses, including the jailing and torture of dissidents, repression of independent religious activity and tight control on the media.
As he has on every other meeting with Mr. Bush, the Chinese leader is expected to raise the issue of Taiwan, and call on the United States to stick with its position that there is one China and Taiwan is part of the country.
Another of Mr. Hu's tasks on this trip will be to ease U.S. concerns about its military buildup, which some in Washington believe may be aimed at preparing for an eventual attack on Taiwan. The mainland government has vowed to eventually reunify with the self-governed island, by force if necessary.


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Post Hu urges U.S. to take long view on trade

Chinese president says both sides must work to lessen yawning imbalance
MUKILTEO, Wash. - Quoting poets from both sides of the Pacific, Chinese President Hu Jintao on Wednesday told an audience of several hundred business and government leaders that the way to maintain balance in U.S.-China relations is to take a strategic, long-term view.
In a sweeping luncheon address, Hu touched on many sources of bilateral tensions, including the United States’ yawning $202 billion trade deficit with China, Chinese piracy of intellectual property and alleged manipulation of Beijing’s currency.
But after summarizing China’s efforts to solve these problems, and urging the United States to do its part, Hu sought to calm growing unease in the United States over China’s economic and political ascent.
“Trade issues should not be politicized,” he emphatically told the crowd.
Hu was on friendly turf in Washington state, which is the only American state that actually runs a trade surplus with China, owing to exports by local companies, including Boeing, Microsoft and Starbucks, which has outlets burgeoning in Chinese cities, as well as agricultural exports.
Several hundred business and community leaders were on hand for Hu’s speech — at a cost of $750 a plate, and up — and to meet the Chinese VIPs traveling in his 100-strong delegation, who were dispersed among local guests. Most in attendance wore Western-style business suits, though a few American guests donned traditional Mandarin-style garb.
Hu, his wife, Liu Yongoing, and top Chinese officials shared the dais with key government figures from the state, as well as Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates and Alan R. Mulally, president and CEO of Boeing's commercial airline division.
Warm welcome for Kissinger
But the greatest applause from the VIPs and the audience went to former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, who was greeted by Hu with a hug. Kissinger was instrumental in arranging former President Richard Nixon’s landmark 1972 trip to China, which paved the way for the re-establishment of bilateral ties.
U.S.-CHINA RELATIONS
PACIFIC FRICTIONS

These two giants facing off across the Pacific have a massive economic relationship. They align on some key geopolitical issues, but they also have areas of friction that threaten to escalate.
The imbalance hit a record $202 billion in China's favor at the end of 2005, prompting U.S. lawmakers to threaten punitive moves unless Beijing lowers market barriers in to U.S. services and goods. China says the U.S. shares the blame because it bars sales to China of high-tech items that have military applications.
In a speech that repeated the substance of his comments a day earlier to a local Chinese American group, Hu vowed to help reduce the trade imbalance with the United States by expanding domestic demand.
“China does not seek a large surplus,” Hu said, pointing out that the country runs a trade deficit with Japan, South Korea and a number of Southeast Asian countries. Still, he promised his country “will further open its markets to American goods and services.”
But he also urged he United States to “take steps to promote the export of U.S. products to China,” including easing of export controls — a likely reference to a self-imposed U.S. ban on high-technology items that have potential military applications.
And Hu rejected U.S. demands that China revalue its renminbi currency, also known as the yuan.
“Our goal is to keep the renminbi exchange rate basically stable at adaptive and equilibrium levels,” Hu said.
“China will continue to firmly promote financial reforms, improve the renminbi exchange rate-setting mechanism, develop the foreign exchange market and increase the flexibility of the renminbi exchange rate,” he said.
Revaluing the yuan is a key U.S. demand, which officials say is vital to make American exports more competitive, erase an advantage Chinese manufacturers currently enjoy and reduce China’s bilateral trade surplus, which last year reached $202 billion.
China sought to quell U.S. trade complaints before Hu’s visit by signing contracts worth $16.2 billion while Vice Premier Wu Yi visited the United States last week.
Hu also talked extensively about China’s energy needs, and efforts to conserve, as well as the need to address its deteriorating environment and the growing income gap between rural and urban areas, which is increasingly a source of unrest.
He had little to say on the domestic political front, aside from a passing mention that China intends to “improve democracy.”
Hu quotes two poets
In closing, Hu quoted two poets — the American Ralph Waldo Emerson and the Chinese Tang Dynasty’s Li Bai — to talk about the need to press forward in the relationship. Most descriptive of the turbulent background to the visit was a stanza from Li’s work:
“Hoisting high the sails, I will brave the winds and waves to cross the vast oceans.”
After lunch, Hu was scheduled to leave for Washington, D.C., where he is to spend two days and meet with President Bush
Professor Kam Wing Chan, a professor of Chinese geography from the University of Washington, said Hu didn't unveil any new policy initiatives in his speech, “but he did offer more detail and tried to reassure people on several things that Americans are concerned about.
“He also went to lengths to quote American statistics to show the benefits” of the relationship with China, he noted.
“This is the right place to send this message,” Chan noted, given Washington state’s success in its financial dealings with China.
Earlier Wednesday, Hu toured one of Boeing’s assembly plants and touted his country’s massive purchases from the company since 1972, which he said topped $37 billion in March 2006. That total includes a recently signed deal to purchase 80 737 jets from Boeing worth about $4 billion.
And, speaking to the future of flight in his country, he predicted that the booming demand from civil aviation would continue to grow.
“In fact, the plane I flew to the United States on was a Boeing,” Hu said.
Hu also was to be briefed on the new Boeing 787 jet currently under development, which the company touts as its “super-efficient airliner.”
A relaxed and ‘colorful’ Hu
Hu appeared relaxed as he toured the plant before flying to Washington, D.C., for his White House meeting with Bush on Thursday.
The remarks were delivered in a manner that a reporter from Beijing described as “very colorful” for Hu, a technocrat whose formal manner has given few clues about his personality during his three years as president. “It’s not so rigid,” China Daily reporter Li Xing said of Hu’s demeanor.
Tuesday night, Hu dined with about 100 U.S. political and corporate leaders at the home of Bill Gates, whose Microsoft Corp. has been a major victim of Chinese software piracy. (MSNBC is a Microsoft-NBC joint venture.)
In a meeting earlier Tuesday with Gates, Hu reiterated China would move against software pirates.
U.S. industry groups estimate 90 percent of DVDs, music CDs and software sold in China are pirated. The intellectual-property issue is also expected to be on the agenda when Hu meets Bush, as part of the discussion on China’s $202 billion 2005 trade surplus with the United States.
Bush has also said he intends to bring up Iran’s nuclear program. He wants China to cooperate in putting more pressure on Tehran through the U.N. Security Council.
A Chinese spokesman told reporters on Tuesday, “We hope that we will continue to work toward a peaceful resolution of the Iran issue.”
Hu said on Tuesday that China and the United States “share common strategic interests in a wide range of areas, particularly in maintaining world peace, promoting global economic growth, combating terrorism and preventing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.”

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Post On agenda with China: trade challenges

A Chinese delegation preceding President Hu's visit Thursday has announced several key economic moves.
By Howard LaFranchi | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
WASHINGTON – When Chinese President Hu Jintao calls on President Bush at the White House Thursday, it will undoubtedly be fraught with all the economic and strategic anxieties besetting the "superpower meets rising giant" relationship.
Yet even as the Pentagon voices concern over China's expanding military power, and Congress frets over China's economic position in a globalized world, the meeting of the two leaders can be expected to highlight cooperation and the relationship's benefits over its problems.
That's because the two countries need each other, especially economically - while the last thing either leader needs right now is another problem on his plate.
"We've got two besieged leaders in their own way, and neither one is looking to be a problem to the other, nor does he want the other to become a problem," says David Lampton, director of China Studies at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies in Washington.
Mr. Bush wants signs of cooperation from China: on Iran and the diplomatic effort to curtail its nuclear ambitions, on making transparency a part of China's military buildup, and on opening up the Asian giant's galloping economy.
For his part, Mr. Hu - whose visit to the White House set for last September was put off by hurricane Katrina - is anxious to lower the heat around Sino-American relations, while reducing the chances of any US actions that could put him in hot water.
"It's clear there is increasing tension between the two countries, on the economy and around security issues, so a dominant objective of Hu will be to defuse some of this," says Oded Shenkar, a global business management expert specializing in China at Ohio State University in Columbus. "[The Chinese] realize they are at a point where a little spark could set off an explosion."
Hu and other Chinese leaders are increasingly aware of a link between the course of domestic challenges and smooth relations with the United States, says Mr. Shenkar, whose recent book, "The Chinese Century," looks at China's impact on the global economy.
"Already they have seen how restrictions on Chinese garment exports affect the employment of people from the countryside," and how that in turn affects urbanization and other worrisome domestic issues, Shenkar says. "They have become more and more sensitive to how the internal and external are linked."
Evidence of that can be seen in the way the Chinese are charting the presidential visit - and in particular how they are using it to reach American public opinion.
Preceding Hu's calling at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is a sizable trade delegation that is already in the US, visiting 13 states and rolling out a number of contracts to buy American products. A prime objective is to demonstrate a cooperative stance on key American concerns such as the US trade deficit with China - which reached $202 billion last year.
"They are becoming more sophisticated and not just making announcements in Washington," says Mr. Lampton.
Another example of that political savvy is the way the Chinese government addressed head on the threat of two US senators, Charles Schumer (D) of New York and Lindsey Graham (R) of South Carolina, to impose a stiff tariff on Chinese imports if the Chinese currency is not allowed to float. After initially resisting a trip by the two senators to China, the government finally welcomed them - and convinced the two that its efforts on the yuan warrant putting off any precipitous trade action.
In a five-year plan dealing with the economy, the Chinese "added the goal of letting their currency float," Senator Schumer told a Monitor breakfast earlier this month. "So now we're in sync."
The trade delegation, headed by Vice Premier Wu Yi - dubbed by pundits one of the world's most powerful women - has used its time in the US to contract $16.2 billion in American products, including telecommunications items, soybeans, and 80 Boeing aircraft.
The Chinese have also announced they would reopen their market to US beef, crack down on the sale of pirated computer software, and begin talks on allowing foreign firms to compete for government contracts.
When Bush and Hu meet later this week, it may be a reciprocal worrying that best describes their countries' relationship. "The US is uncertain about the rising power's intentions, while China ... is uncertain about the stability of a relationship it needs for its economic good," said Evan Madeiros, an Asia expert at the RAND Corp., speaking recently in Washington.
Mr. Madeiros says both the US and China will employ what he calls "hedging," or a mix of cooperation and competition, for years to come as the US adjusts to China's growing clout, and China in return accommodates and resists US pressures.
How security figures into US-China ties
As worrisome as the US-Chinese economic disputes may be, they still do not reach the level of suspicions that both sides have over security issues, most analysts say.
The United States is focused on a Chinese military buildup without transparency, China's emergence as a regional power, its efforts to develop closer energy ties to Iran - and the impact that has on China's willingness to stand with other powers opposing a nuclear-armed Iran, says Dan Blumenthal, a former China analyst in the Pentagon's Office of International Security Affairs.
"The context for all of this is a higher pitch of concern about China all across the board," says Mr. Blumenthal, now at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington.
That "higher pitch of concern" is most evident in a string of recent US documents, including the Bush administration's updated National Security Strategy and the Pentagon's Quadrennial Defense Review, which portray China as a "worrisome" power to be watched and balanced by other Asian powers.
Even if President Bush does not dwell on those estimates in his meetings with Chinese President Hu Jintao this week, the tone is unwelcome and equally worrisome to the Chinese. "They see a printed record here that is negative," says David Lampton of Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies

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Post Trade, Currency and Software Piracy on Agenda for US Visit by Chinese President

Chinese President Hu Jintao came to the U.S. on a whirlwind visit dealing with issues crucial to the continued trade between both countries. But as VOA's Mil Arcega reports, advance preparation by a Chinese delegation a week before Mr. Hu's visit may have eased some U.S. concerns.

President Hu's first stop was Seattle, Washington, where former state governor Gary Locke said many American businesses are eager to work with China.
"Energy efficiency companies, architectural, engineering companies that can help China clean up its environment. Research institutions, like Fred Hutch -- with Nobel prize winners, can help meet the medical needs of China," said Mr. Locke.
Despite their willingness to do business, some American companies and political leaders have concerns about China's growing economic influence. Critics say currency manipulation and unfair restrictions to Chinese markets are responsible in part for the growing trade imbalance between the two countries, which hit a new high of 202 billion dollars last year.
Shi Yinhong, a professor at Renmin University in Beijing, says relations between the two countries have not always been smooth, but there is now a greater willingness to deal.
"Compared with the past, China has become much, much more important to the United States, and the United States also has become much, much more important to China. This is a huge change in the past 10 years"
That willingness to deal is evident in what some analysts have called China's “checkbook diplomacy”—a willingness to spend money to influence policy.
Last week, Chinese officials and businesses signed contracts with U.S. companies worth more than 16 billion dollars. Among the bigger recipients – Seattle-based software giant Microsoft and aircraft manufacturer Boeing, which signed a deal to build 80 of its model 737 jets.
Despite the investment in U.S. companies and concessions aimed at easing the trade gap, some analysts say the meeting between President Hu and U.S. President George Bush could have a hard edge.
Randall Schriver is a former deputy assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs.
"We do have a president who can't afford to be pushed around by anybody, least of which, the Chinese, and we've got an election year, of course, upon us."
Along with trade issues, the two leaders are also expected to discuss human rights and China's position nuclear programs in Iran and North Korea.

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Post Trade top issue during Chinese President's US tour

Trade is topping the agenda for the Chinese President during his first official visit to the United States. Hu Jintao embarked on the four day tour yesterday - his first stop was a meeting with Microsoft founder Bill Gates. Following the meeting Hu pledged to continue striving against software piracy adding that co-operation between Beijing and the computer giant would be stepped up. China recently signed large commercial deals with both Microsoft and Boeing.

With 80 737 jets ordered, Hu is also visiting the offices of the aerospace giant today. But the highlight of the trip comes tomorrow with a summit with President George W. Bush. The two leaders are expected to cover trade and moves to avert nuclear advances in North Korea and Iran.

But while the Chinese President's visit is being greeted enthusiastically in some circles for others it is serious cause for concern. Activists have gathered close to where Hu has been staying - they include protesters demanding China get out of Tibet and others claiming Taiwan's right to independence.

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Post Us Benefits From Trade With China: President Hu

Chinese President Hu Jintao has urged the United States not to let trade disputes damage Sino-US relations, emphasizing that China's fast growth provides tremendous opportunities for America.

EVERETT, United States (AFP) - "China's development will present enormous business opportunities to the United States and other countries," Hu told a luncheon attended by about 600 business leaders, government officials and others in the Greater Seattle area.
"China has a huge market and big demand for America's advanced technologies and management expertise."
Speaking on the second day of his first official US visit and on the eve of a summit with US President George W. Bush, Hu said it was "hardly avoidable" that trade frictions would occur given the sheer size and rapid growth of the countries' two-way trade, but differences should not be politicized.
"We should properly address these problems through consultation and dialogue on an equal footing as we work to expand our business ties," Hu said.
The visit comes amid brewing trade disputes between the two countries. Hu is expected to receive a grilling from Bush on issues such as China's undervalued currency, insufficient market opening and rampant piracy -- all of which critics said contributes to the record 201 billion dollar US deficit.
Hu, however, argued that the China trade has saved American consumers billions of dollars and created millions of jobs and brought "great benefits" to both sides.
US companies doing business with China also have made profits, he added.
Hu insisted China was working hard to reduce its trade surplus with the United States, but that the surplus was a natural outcome of changes in US industry and of globalization.
"At least 90 percent of US imports from China are goods that are no longer produced in the United States," Hu said.
"Even if not from China, the United States will still have to import these products from other suppliers."
He said China has been "increasing imports" from the US and has "worked hard" to reduce the bilateral trade surplus, citing China's purchase of 6.7 billion dollars' worth of US soybeans and other farm products as well as orders for 60 Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft last year, and more recent orders.
He dangled more opportunities for US businesses, including China's need for 2,000 new airplanes in 15 years, its need for imports to carry out massive industrial upgrading, infrastructure building, environmental protection and construction of nuclear power plants.
On the currency, Hu said China wants a flexible but stable exchange rate and will continue to improve its flexibility.
"Our goal is to maintain the renminbi exchange rate basically stable, at an adaptive and equilibrium level," Hu said.
Since China revalued its yuan under US pressure in July last year, the renminbi only appreciated by a little over 3 percent.
Washington believes the Chinese currency remains undervalued by as much as 40 percent, giving Chinese exporters advantages and fostering deep imbalances in global trade.
Hu listed a litany of steps China is taking to address US concerns, including boosting domestic demand, further opening its market to US companies, including small and medium-sized American firms, and encouraging Chinese firms to invest in the US market.
Hu also pledged to "step up law enforcement and crack down hard on IPR infringement."
Computer software, movies, music, pharmaceuticals and other US products are widely pirated in China.
The Chinese president's choice of Washington state as his first US stop, where he visited with executives of Boeing and software giant Microsoft, appears to be aimed at easing US concerns over the trade deficit and showing Americans China's purchasing power.
The state enjoys a trade surplus with China, largely due to the sale of Boeing airplanes, as well as wines and agricultural products. Its exports to China increased by 64 percent last year.
Hu pointed out he flew in on a Boeing airplane.
Prior to his speech, Hu made a shorter speech to Boeing employees following a tour of a Boeing plant.
A Boeing worker presented the Chinese leader with a blue company cap, and Hu did something rare for the president known for his reserved style: he hugged the employee.
Hu left Washington state later Wednesday for the US capital.
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