Obama prods China on the yuan, but Hu keeps silent on the issue

Obama has faced a tricky balance between courting and cajoling China during his visit.

China has had a huge trade surplus with the United States, and is also the largest foreign holder of U.S. government bonds. But the U.S. president has also sought help from Beijing, with its growing diplomatic sway, on security worries.

The two leaders discussed North Korea and Iran, agreeing to cooperate on addressing both those nuclear disputes, and also promised to work together on fighting global warming.

Hu expressed appreciation that Obama, who arrived in China on Sunday night, had welcomed a “strong, prosperous and successful China that plays an even greater role on the world stage.”

Obama said he told China that all minorities should enjoy human rights and urged China to resume talks with representatives of the Dalai Lama, Tibet's exiled spiritual leader.

Obama did not meet the Dalai Lama when he was in Washington in early October. But the Dalai Lama has said they may meet after Obama returns from China, which condemns the Buddhist monk as a separatist for demanding Tibetan self-determination.

Chinese media have avoided the kind of effusive reception Obama has received in Europe, and police shooed away people on Beijing streets waiting to snap pictures of his motorcade.

Asked if he was frustrated that the Chinese did not seem to cede much ground on issues like human rights and currencies, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Obama recognizes that there remains “a lot of work to do” to bridge differences.

Obama did not expect “the waters would part and everything would change over the course of our almost two-and-a-half day trip to China,” Gibbs said.

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