John
01-19-2011, 08:05 AM
The White House says relations with China face "difficult challenges" as Barack Obama prepares to hold summit talks with his opposite number Hu Jintao.
President Hu's state visit to Washington is being seen as the most important meeting between the two superpowers for 30 years.
And with a range of simmering tensions and disputes there is little prospect of any progress being made while Hu is in the US.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said: "We have a co-operative but a competitive relationship with China and, as in many bilateral relationships, we see the benefits of that and we understand the difficult challenges that lie ahead."
Tensions over trade and currency are likely to dominate at the summit but the countries have significant differences over the global economy, human rights, military development and issues like North Korea.
President Hu has dismissed US claims that Beijing undervalues its currency, the yuan, and that this restricts access to markets in China.
He has also taken a swipe at the fiscal management of the US and the huge deficits run up by Washington, however a group of US senators has hit back.
In a letter to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner they write: "China's actions to subsidize its exports through currency manipulation pose both immediate and long-term challenges to American manufacturers and workers still recovering from the economic recession."
Former deputy assistant secretary of state Randall Schriver told Sky News: "There's a lot of work to be done on this relationship but I think we can expect tension and differences to remain.
"It is how we manage those that will put us in a better place or a worse place going forward."
The markets will be looking for Hu and President Obama to ease tensions after a rocky 2010 but many analysts say we should expect to see little more than friendly words and business deals worth potentially tens of billions of dollars.
Gordon Chang, a China analyst for Forbes.com, said: "There's going to be no agreement on substantive matters - it is going to be a 'nothing burger.'"
Hu is due to begin the process of handing over power from next year and with Obama facing a re-election campaign analysts expect the two leaders will simply want to present a stable image of US-China relations.
Source - Yahoo.
President Hu's state visit to Washington is being seen as the most important meeting between the two superpowers for 30 years.
And with a range of simmering tensions and disputes there is little prospect of any progress being made while Hu is in the US.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said: "We have a co-operative but a competitive relationship with China and, as in many bilateral relationships, we see the benefits of that and we understand the difficult challenges that lie ahead."
Tensions over trade and currency are likely to dominate at the summit but the countries have significant differences over the global economy, human rights, military development and issues like North Korea.
President Hu has dismissed US claims that Beijing undervalues its currency, the yuan, and that this restricts access to markets in China.
He has also taken a swipe at the fiscal management of the US and the huge deficits run up by Washington, however a group of US senators has hit back.
In a letter to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner they write: "China's actions to subsidize its exports through currency manipulation pose both immediate and long-term challenges to American manufacturers and workers still recovering from the economic recession."
Former deputy assistant secretary of state Randall Schriver told Sky News: "There's a lot of work to be done on this relationship but I think we can expect tension and differences to remain.
"It is how we manage those that will put us in a better place or a worse place going forward."
The markets will be looking for Hu and President Obama to ease tensions after a rocky 2010 but many analysts say we should expect to see little more than friendly words and business deals worth potentially tens of billions of dollars.
Gordon Chang, a China analyst for Forbes.com, said: "There's going to be no agreement on substantive matters - it is going to be a 'nothing burger.'"
Hu is due to begin the process of handing over power from next year and with Obama facing a re-election campaign analysts expect the two leaders will simply want to present a stable image of US-China relations.
Source - Yahoo.