Asia-Pacific News
Chinese Vice President Xi begins White House talks
Feb 14, 2012, 14:56 GMT
Washington - Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping began a series of meetings with US officials in Washington Tuesday with talks with US Vice President Joe Biden at the White House.
Xi, who is expected to ascend to the presidency in 2013, is to later meet 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.
The visit comes amid Obama's strategic pivot to the Asia-Pacific region, with plans to boost the US military presence there and steadily increase pressure on China to level the economic playing field.
Pressure will likely also be applied to Xi about the issues of Syria, Iran, North Korea, China's currency and trade, and human rights.
Tibet activists were using the visit to pressure China and encourage US officials to do the same. On Monday, a group of protesters climbed a major bridge in the US capital to unfurl a protest banner and others had gathered outside the White House.
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