Hu to meet Bush next month in the US

Chinese Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) will meet US President George W. Bush on Sept. 7 during his first visit to Washington since becoming his country's supreme leader, the White House said on Tuesday.

Hu, who previously traveled to the US capital on a "coming out" trip in May 2002 when he was vice president, will arrive as US concern mounts over China's economic posture and at a key stage of the North Korean crisis.

"President Bush will welcome Chinese President Hu Jintao to the White House on Sept. 7," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said in a statement released after Bush toured the mountain resort of Donnelly, Idaho.

"The president looks forward to holding discussions with President Hu on the full range of issues on the US-China agenda and continuing to build a candid, constructive and cooperative bilateral relationship," McClellan said.

Relations the US and China, pitched into crisis with a spyplane showdown and tensions over Taiwan early in Bush's first term, have stabilized in recent years, bolstered by anti-terror cooperation and efforts to ease the North Korean nuclear crisis.

But in recent months, there has been rising concern in the US Congress and the business community over China's economic policies.

Trade want China to revalue its currency, which the US says at current levels makes Chinese exports a bargain to US consumers and US goods more expensive in China.

China month freed the yuan from an 11-year-old peg to the US dollar and allowed the unit to appreciate 2.1 percent.

Beijing's for foreign energy to power its economic emergence has also sparked concern. Fierce opposition in Congress and elsewhere last month prompted the China National Offshore Oil Corp to abandon a US$18.5 billion takeover bid for California firm Unocal.

Washington Beijing are also trying to find a compromise in a row over rocketing volumes of Chinese textile shipments, which have sparked fresh trade tensions.

US of State Condoleezza Rice said in an interview published in the New York Times last week that she had told Chinese leaders in recent meetings that they should take note of unrest in Congress about Sino-US relations.

"Don't ignore what people are saying to you about the problems of a Chinese economy that is both big and unreformed," Rice said.

China also been brokering six-nation talks in Beijing on easing the North Korean nuclear crisis.