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Updated Sunday, April 11, 2010 11:46 am TWN, By Robert Saiget, AFP



	U.S. President Barack Obama shakes hands with Chinese President Hu Jintao, right, following a statement to the press at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Nov. 17, 2009. Hu is to sit down with Obama next week in Washington as the two sides look to turn the corner on months of bickering. (AP) Enlarge Photo

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Hu, Obama to mend fences during Washington sit-down

The following month, he met with the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, at the White House.

Washington and Beijing have also gone back and forth over Google's China exit, which was prompted by cyberattacks and Internet censorship, as well as the yuan, which the U.S. says must be boosted to resolve global trade imbalances. Geithner tackled the yuan issue with Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan, the cabinet's top official on economic issues, in Thursday's talks.

A U.S. official told the Wall Street Journal those negotiations were “constructive” and had prompted optimism on the U.S. side that Beijing would soon move to allow its currency to strengthen.

The United States and China's other key trading partners have been piling pressure on Beijing to allow the yuan to appreciate, saying it is undervalued and gives the country an unfair advantage by making its exports cheaper.

But earlier this month, Geithner delayed a Treasury report that could have branded China a currency manipulator — a move that U.S. lawmakers have been clamouring for, but which would have been met with contempt in Beijing. Geithner and Wang will meet again next month at the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue in Beijing — talks that also include U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

On Iran, Washington has pushed for China to support a new round of sanctions against Tehran. But Beijing, which has close ties with the Islamic republic, has so far baulked, instead insisting dialogue is the way forward.

Analysts however noted that while the Hu-Obama meeting was likely to help bolster ties, deep differences remained, especially on Taiwan, which Beijing considers as part of its territory, and Chinese-ruled Tibet.

“President Hu will be attending this nuclear summit because this has to do with global nuclear non-proliferation and world peace,” Yan Xuetong, director of the International Studies Center at Tsinghua University, told AFP.

“His attendance at the summit does not mean that the issues of U.S. arms sales to Taiwan and the meeting with the Dalai Lama have ended... these issues have not been resolved.”

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