Chinese Vice-President Xi Jinping spent Valentine's Day at the White House, but the visit was likely far from a love fest despite each sides' effort to woo the other.
Xi is the heir apparent to lead China and is expected to succeed Hu Jintao as Communist Party leader in November and as president in March 2013. The visit was billed by both sides as a chance to build rapport and continue discussions begun when US Vice-President Joe Biden visited Beijing last year.
President Barack Obama held an unusually long visit with Xi, talking for nearly an hour and a half, and White House spokesman Jay Carney stressed the two had discussed a range of issues, including economic, national security and other cooperative efforts.
The Congressional Research Service characterised the meetings as “more than an ordinary vice presidential visit” given that it comes ahead of Xi's expected rise to power and has potential to boost his standing at home.
Still, the White House continued to emphasise that Xi was not yet in charge and any major policy discussions would have to be held with President Hu Jintao.
Carney said it was far too early to evaluate what kind of leader Xi would be.
“Vice President Xi is the likely future leader of China. He obviously at this time is vice president,” he said. “I think it's premature to make those kinds of judgments, but it is a measure of the importance of the relationship for both countries that Vice President Xi is here and that he is having the kinds of meetings that he's having today.”
The visit was full of photo opportunities for Obama, Biden and other US officials to praise US-China relations, but behind close doors discussions were more serious.
When asked whether serious concerns such as China's human rights record were raised, Carney replied firmly, “You can be sure they are” and described frank discussions as a “hallmark of our relationship.”
A Chinese veto of a United Nations Security Council resolution on Syria is the latest point of contention with Washington. Carney agreed with an assessment that the veto by China and Russia amounted to a “license to kill” and was sure the issue had been raised with Xi, though exact details of the discussion were not revealed.
Trade issues and Obama's announcement in his State of the Union address last month of a Trade Enforcement Unit to investigate unfair practices has rankled Beijing as have his intentions to shift US military attention to the Asia-Pacific region.
Xi said in a written interview with the Washington Post that, “at a time when people long for peace, stability and development, to deliberately give prominence to the military security agenda, scale up military deployment and strengthen military alliances is not really what most countries in the region hope to see.”
On trade, in remarks before their meeting, Obama emphasised the need for every country to play by the same rules.
“We will work with China to be sure everyone is working by the same rules of the road when it comes to the world economic system,” he said, without mentioning the specific concerns of currency valuation, trade imbalances and piracy that Washington finds particularly vexing.
A full page Washington Post ad from the US Business and Industry Council drove the point home with photos of traditional Valentine's heart candies stamped with words such as “currency manipulation,” “subsidies” and “IP theft,” rather than the standard sweet nothings.
“Make it clear that you'll no longer stand for a trading 'partner' who abuses its relationship with America,” the ad told Obama.
Speaking later to the US Chamber of Commerce not far from the White House, Xi said China had taken steps to address some of those US and business concerns, but called on the US to take steps to follow suit on Chinese concerns about export restrictions.
“A rising China is a positive development, not only for China, but for the US and the world,” Biden told the Chamber, noting it, “will fuel economic growth and prosperity and a rising China will bring to the fore a new partner that can help us with the issues the world faces.”
Even so, more must be done to “break the cycle of suspicion and counter suspicion,” the Council on Foreign Relations' Sebastian Mallaby said on the group's website.
On Wednesday, Xi will meet with Congressional leaders on Capitol Hill and address the US-China Business Council before heading to Iowa to visit families he first met in 1985, when he was a young Communist Party leader learning about American farm practices. He especially requested the stop in Muscatine, a small town in the rural mid-western state, during his current trip.
Xi, who will travel to California on Friday, extended an invitation to Obama for a return visit to China, but no time frame was mentioned. - Sapa-dpa