China Daily Exclusive

Landmark trip looks to future

By Wu Jiao (China Daily)
Updated: 2011-01-18 07:03

Meeting to ease strains and focus on the big picture

BEIJING - President Hu Jintao embarks on his long-expected four-day state visit to the United States on Tuesday, with the number of bilateral and global issues on the agenda putting it firmly in the international spotlight.

Observers said the visit will not only help reset bilateral ties after a rocky year, but will also help set the direction for Sino-US ties in a transformational era.

Hu's four-day visit includes stays in Washington and Chicago. It will be the first time that Hu has paid a state visit to the US since Barack Obama took office two years ago, yet it will be the eighth time that the two leaders have met for talks over the past two years, a frequency that some White House officials have described as "rare in modern US diplomacy".

Special Coverage: Hu Visits US  Chinese President Hu Jintao visits the United States on Jan. 18-21 for a visit that is being billed as the most important U.S.-China summit since Deng Xiaoping's visit to Washington 30 years ago.

The Hu-Obama meeting will mainly focus on thorny bilateral issues including US arms sales to Taiwan and the bilateral trade imbalance, regional issues including the Korean Peninsula, and international issues including global economic governance and climate change.

Hu is also expected to meet local students and businesspeople in Chicago, Obama's hometown.

The Associated Press reported that Hu is to be feted in Washington with a lavish state banquet at the White House and other pomp usually reserved for close friends and allies - all of which, as the agency interprets, are intended to improve the tone of relations between a rising and prosperous China and a US superpower in a tenuous economic recovery.

Besides normal procedures involved for a state visit, the White House is also making extra efforts to ensure the success of the visit.

These arrangements include a small-scale private dinner for Obama and Hu on the day of Hu's arrival to allow for a frank and private discussion, which will help test the waters for the following day's talks.

First Lady Michelle Obama will also talk with US youngsters to encourage them to study in China, part of the plan announced by her husband during his state visit to China in November 2009 when he promised to increase the number of US youngsters learning in China to 100,000 by 2015.

Sources said Hu's visit will yield a number of agreements on bilateral trade, energy, environmental protection, infrastructure building, and cultural and personnel exchanges.

Purchases of Boeing aircraft and the building of a high-speed railway may be on the list of agreements, said sources. Diplomats from both countries have been negotiating a formal joint statement, but it remains to be seen whether Obama and Hu will issue a communiqu.

Chinese Vice-Foreign Minister Cui Tiankai said that the two sides are still discussing the content of the statement.

According to Wang Fan, an international studies expert at China Foreign Affairs University, the US is now looking at China in the context of historic shifts in the balance of power, as it figures out a strategy for its China policy, and is therefore giving China unprecedented attention.

Previous meetings: This is Chinese President Hu Jintao’s first state visit to the United States since Barack Obama took office as US president two years ago, but the pair have met seven previous times: • April 1, 2009: G-20 Summit in London • Sept 22, 2009: UN Climate Change Summit in New York • Nov 17, 2009: US President Barack Obama’s visit to Beijing • April 13, 2010: Nuclear Security Summit in Washington DC • June 26, 2010: G-20 Summit in Toronto • Nov 11, 2010: G-20 Summit in Seoul • Nov 13, 2010: APEC Summit in Yokohama

Analysts said the significance Washington is attaching to the visit also derives from the fact that it increasingly needs Beijing's help in managing global issues, such as piracy off the African coast, Iran's nuclear program and reinvigorating the world economy.

Also, given the background of the Democrats' poor showing in the mid-term election, Obama now faces huge domestic pressure, and is hoping to reap dividends from a successful visit by Hu. That means business contracts that bring jobs to the sluggish US economy, progress on some issues that has affected bilateral ties, including trade and the Korean Peninsula issue.

China is also keen to take the opportunity to win trust and dispel suspicion in the US, which leads the developed countries. China wants to foster a favorable environment for its development.

Meanwhile, as the two are now each other's second-largest trade partner, China views the US market as crucial to its sustainable economic development.

Hu, during his four-day trip, is expected to promote China's peaceful development in a speech to business leaders and opinion-makers in Washington on Thursday and to highlight the benefits of China's market and investment when visiting Chicago.

Before Hu's departure from Beijing, high-ranking officials from each side changed the harsh tone they adopted in 2010 and became more positive regarding bilateral cooperation.

A flurry of diplomatic efforts, either visits made or speeches given by keynote officials from each country, had already been arranged prior to the visit, shedding light on the importance each side attaches to it.

Three major figures in Obama's administration - Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Commerce Secretary Gary Locke - have successively delivered speeches on Hu's visit, a rare occurrence in US politics.

In a speech on Friday, Clinton dismissed calls for a Cold War-style containment policy and instead described the relationship as an increasingly complex global "entanglement".

"This is not a relationship that fits neatly into the black and white categories like 'friend' or 'rival'.

"It is clear that we cannot paper over the difference between our countries; nor should we try to do so," she said. "But the future of our relationship can be strong if we each meet our responsibilities as great nations."

Chinese officials have emphasized what they see as common concerns while acknowledging the complexity of the relationship.

"When the relationship is strained, we need to bear in mind the bigger picture and not allow any individual issue to disrupt our overall cooperation," Cui said in a speech on Friday.

And for Chinese Ambassador to the US Zhang Yesui, it is not strange to see China and the US hold different views on some issues due to the different political systems, culture, history and social development.

"The key is to respect and take care of each other's core interests and major concerns, and we must solve the problems through dialogue and consultation on an equal footing."

Analysts believe it is a state visit meant to reset relations after a rocky year, and moreover it might help lay the foundations for bilateral ties in a transformational era in the near future.

Others also hold that the visit will benefit regional and international relations on the whole.