Asia-Pacific

Obama to host Hu in state visit on Jan 19

(Agencies)
Updated: 2010-12-23 08:53

WASHINGTON - The White House has finalized Jan 19 as the date for Chinese President Hu Jintao's visit to the United States.

"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 issued Wednesday.

Hu's visit with US President Barack Obama will include a state dinner in the evening.

It marks the third formal state visit Obama and his wife, Michelle, have hosted. They have also hosted the leaders of India and Mexico.

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 D.C.

"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 email 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."

Tensions between the two Koreas have gone down a notch after South Korea held military drills this week and the North did not act on earlier threats to hit back against the drills.