Hu urges U.S. to take long view on trade

Hu quotes two poets
In closing, Hu quoted two poets — the American Ralph Waldo Emerson and the Chinese Tang Dynasty’s Li Bai — to talk about the need to press forward in the relationship. Most descriptive of the turbulent background to the visit was a stanza from Li’s work:

“Hoisting high the sails, I will brave the winds and waves to cross the vast oceans.”

After lunch, Hu was scheduled to leave for Washington, D.C., where he is to spend two days and meet with President Bush.

Professor Kam Wing Chan, a professor of Chinese geography from the University of Washington, said Hu didn't unveil any new policy initiatives in his speech, “but he did offer more detail and tried to reassure people on several things that Americans are concerned about.

“He also went to lengths to quote American statistics to show the benefits” of the relationship with China, he noted.

“This is the right place to send this message,” Chan noted, given Washington state’s success in its financial dealings with China.

Earlier Wednesday, Hu toured one of Boeing’s assembly plants and touted his country’s massive purchases from the company since 1972, which he said topped $37 billion in March 2006. That total includes a recently signed deal to purchase 80 737 jets from Boeing worth about $4 billion.

And, speaking to the future of flight in his country, he predicted that the booming demand from civil aviation would continue to grow.

“In fact, the plane I flew to the United States on was a Boeing,” Hu said.

Hu also was to be briefed on the new Boeing 787 jet currently under development, which the company touts as its “super-efficient airliner.”

A relaxed and ‘colorful’ Hu
Hu appeared relaxed as he toured the plant before flying to Washington, D.C., for his White House meeting with Bush on Thursday.

The remarks were delivered in a manner that a reporter from Beijing described as “very colorful” for Hu, a technocrat whose formal manner has given few clues about his personality during his three years as president. “It’s not so rigid,” China Daily reporter Li Xing said of Hu’s demeanor.

Tuesday night, Hu dined with about 100 U.S. political and corporate leaders at the home of Bill Gates, whose Microsoft Corp. has been a major victim of Chinese software piracy. (MSNBC is a Microsoft-NBC joint venture.)

In a meeting earlier Tuesday with Gates, Hu reiterated China would move against software pirates.

U.S. industry groups estimate 90 percent of DVDs, music CDs and software sold in China are pirated. The intellectual-property issue is also expected to be on the agenda when Hu meets Bush, as part of the discussion on China’s $202 billion 2005 trade surplus with the United States.

Bush has also said he intends to bring up Iran’s nuclear program. He wants China to cooperate in putting more pressure on Tehran through the U.N. Security Council.

A Chinese spokesman told reporters on Tuesday, “We hope that we will continue to work toward a peaceful resolution of the Iran issue.”

Hu said on Tuesday that China and the United States “share common strategic interests in a wide range of areas, particularly in maintaining world peace, promoting global economic growth, combating terrorism and preventing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.”

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