Obama Begins First Visit to China

November 16, 2009

Obama Begins First Visit to China

By DAVID BARBOZA

SHANGHAI — President Obama arrived here late Sunday on the third leg of his four-nation trip to Asia, where he is working to strengthen ties in the region.

After meeting with world leaders in Japan and Singapore, the president is beginning his first visit to China, where he will have a chance to see for himself this country’s spectacular rise.

The president and his advisers, including Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, are expected to discuss a wide range of issues with China’s leaders, including North Korea, terrorism, the environment, human rights and the fragile state of the global economy.

The president is expected to praise Beijing for its efforts to stimulate its economy, aiding a global recovery that is now gathering steam. But he is also expected to press Beijing to allow its currency to appreciate and to speed up market reforms and give American companies greater access to its market, which could bolster American exports and help create jobs in the United States.

The three-day visit to China comes after the president traveled to Japan and Singapore, where on Sunday he attended an Asia-Pacific economic summit meeting. During those stops, President Obama pledged to forge closer ties with Japan, a longtime ally, and in a speech in Tokyo said that he did not fear China’s rise but welcomed it.

In Singapore on Sunday, the president met world leaders, including President Dmitri A. Medvedev of Russia and suggested the two nations might agree to sanctions against Iran because of the slow progress it had made in negotiations over its uranium enrichment facility.

Now, the president will get his first glimpse of China, which after a sharp slowdown last year and early this year, is in the midst of another growth spurt. The country’s economy is likely to grow by about8 percent, by far the best performing major economy, accounting for much of the world’s economic growth this year. The country’s real estate and stock markets are once again booming, and hot initial public stock offerings are luring frenzied investors to play in the financial markets.

China’s exports have suffered through a sharp slowdown, down more than 20 percent from a year ago, when China racked up a huge trade surplus with the rest of the world. But this year China is expected to surpass Germany as the world’s biggest exporter, and record a trade surplus in excess of $200 billion.

Trade tensions with the United States have eased significantly over the past year, largely because of a large drop in imports from China. But American labor unions and some members of Congress continue to press for trade sanctions, arguing that China manipulates its currency to gain an unfair advantage, costing America jobs.

Other economists, however, contend that the currency is a false issue, noting that only 18 percent of America’s imports come from China and that many of those are simply assembled in China, using parts from around the world. Many of China’s biggest exporters to the United States are American and European companies that operate factories here.

The president arrived on Air Force One at about 11:15 p.m. during a cold rain, and drove through the center of Shanghai, China’s richest and flashiest city, past skyscrapers and bright streets that advertised Chinese brands like Li Ning sportswear, but also Louis Vuitton, Gucci and Prada.

On Monday, the president is scheduled to meet Shanghai’s leaders, and then hold what is being billed as a town hall meeting with “future leaders of China,” mostly university students. Mr. Obama is expected to take questions from the young people, but also to field questions submitted through the Internet. The meeting is expected to be broadcast live inside China, according to several Chinese journalists, and also on the White House Web site, www.whitehouse.gov.

Administration officials say the president is eager to interact directly with the country’s young people, with questions unfiltered by the government.

Later Monday, the president will fly to Beijing, where he will hold high-level meetings with President Hu Jintao and Prime Minister Wen Jiabao. He is also scheduled to attend a state dinner and to visit a section of the Great Wall.

Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company