US President Barack Obama will host Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) on a state visit on Jan. 19, the White House said on Wednesday, setting the scene for a summit likely to grapple with North Korea and currency friction.
This was the first firm date for Hu’s long-planned trip.
While Beijing and Washington are likely to use the summit to cast their relationship in a positive light, Obama and Hu will have plenty of disputes to talk over, especially China’s trade surplus and currency controls and its reluctance to chastise North Korea.
“President Hu’s visit will highlight the importance of expanding cooperation between the United States and China on bilateral, regional and global issues, as well as the friendship between the peoples of our two countries,” the White House said in a statement on Wednesday.
Obama wants to “continue building a partnership that advances our common interests and addresses our shared concerns,” the White House said.
Hu’s visit will include a state dinner in the evening. That will be a symbolic trophy for the Chinese leader, who analysts have said wants to use his high-profile trip to brandish his status as a statesman as he prepares to leave office from late 2012.
China has not confirmed the date of Hu’s visit, only saying that it is likely to be early next year.
Obama is likely to urge Hu to increase pressure on his ally North Korea.
US complaints that China keeps its currency too cheap, giving it an unfair trade advantage, are also likely to feature.
But carefully negotiated summits such as this are more about nurturing understanding than scoring policy breakthroughs, said David Lampton, professor of China studies at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies in Washington.
“Lately, one of the biggest problems in US-China relations is that each side has had excessive expectations of what the other could conceivably deliver,” Lampton wrote in an earlier e-mail response to questions about Hu’s trip. “If this trip can lead the two leaders to have more realistic appreciations of the limits each country faces in dealing with the other, that alone should be counted a successful trip.”
US Defense -Secretary Robert Gates will head to China early next month in a sign of easing strains between the Pacific powers, and will also visit US ally Japan, the Pentagon announced on Wednesday.
The Pentagon said Gates will travel to China from Jan. 9 to Jan. 12, one year after Beijing snapped off military relations with -Washington in protest against a multibillion-dollar US arms package for Taiwan.
Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell told reporters that Gates would work to build a military relationship with China “that is confident in tone, cooperative in nature and comprehensive in scope.”
Gates will look to “extend upon those areas where we can cooperate” with China’s military and promote dialogue aimed at improving “mutual understanding and -reducing the risk of miscalculation,” Morrell told reporters.
Gates will visit at the invitation of Chinese Minister of National Defense Liang Guanglie (梁光烈), Morrell said. The two nations have already resumed low-level military contacts at a technical level.
The visit has been keenly sought by Obama’s administration, which considers the military to be the most hesitant about the US among China’s major institutions.
Gates’ talks will likely focus on tensions in the Korean Peninsula, which have abated in recent days.
The Pentagon said that Gates will visit Japan on Jan. 13 and Jan. 14 — a close ally which is home to nearly 50,000 US troops — for talks with Japanese Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa.
Gates will “discuss recent security developments in the region and the further development of our long-term agenda for strengthening and deepening our bilateral alliance,” Morrell said.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese