AP

Protestors gather in front of the White House in Washington during a demonstration against the visit of Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping.

Tibet activists climbed a major bridge in the US capital to unfurl a protest banner the day China's future president arrived in Washington on a week-long jaunt through the United States.

Xi Jinping, the current vice-president of China who is expected to ascend to the presidency in 2013, is to meet on Tuesday with US President Barack Obama at the White House, visit the Pentagon and listen to US businessmen's complaints about the difficulty of doing business in China.

About 100 Free Tibet activists demonstrated on Monday outside the White House, but the protesters grabbed the most attention for their stunt on the Arlington Memorial Bridge that crosses the Potomac at the Lincoln Memorial monument.

Two climbers rappelled over the edge of the bridge and suspended a 17-by-7-metre banner pronouncing: “Xi Jingping: Tibet will be Free.”

They were arrested along with two other protesters by District of Columbia police, according to the group Students For a Free Tibet and the Washington Post.

Earlier Monday in China, a Tibetan Buddhist nun died en route to hospital following a self-immolation protest in south-western province of Sichuan, the latest of nearly two dozen self-immolations reported in Tibetan areas of China in the past two years.

US officials last week vowed that China's human rights abuses would be part of discussions during Xi's visit. Daniel Russel, Obama's senior advisor on Asian affairs, told reporters that rights issues such as Tibet would not be sacrificed “for the sake of having a comfortable visit.”

Washington is keen to give China's future leader an intense exposure to all sides of the US. Xi will also visit Iowa, where in 1985 he slept in a private home as part of a Chinese agricultural delegation, and Los Angeles.

The visit comes amid Obama's strategic pivot to the Asia-Pacific region, with plans to boost the US military presence there. Pressure will likely also be applied to Xi about the issues of Syria, Iran, North Korea, China's currency and trade.

China for its part is pushing to present a strong image to the US, with the “public trappings and spectacle of a successful visit that it can show to a home audience,” said Andrew Small, Translatlantic fellow for Asia at the German-Marshall Fund think tank in Washington.

As part of the Chinese public relations overture, Xi supplied written answers to questions posed by the Washington Post newspaper at the invitation of the Chinese government.

“The vast Pacific Ocean has ample space for China and the United States,” Xi wrote. While he welcomed “a constructive role” by the US in promoting peace and prosperity in the region, he also said he hoped that the US would “fully respect ... the major interests and legitimate concerns of Asia-Pacific countries.” - Sapa-dpa