Bush, Hu agree to disagree as friends

updated 8:07 p.m. ET April 20, 2006

WASHINGTON - President Bush and Chinese President Hu Jintao agreed to cooperate more closely on trade and nuclear tensions over Iran and North Korea but failed to break new ground Thursday toward resolving a host of differences. Their meeting was marred by a protest, which Bush later expressed regret to Hu for.

No breakthroughs had been expected during Hu’s first visit to the White House as the president of China. And both he and Bush acknowledged at a picture-taking session that much work remained to be done and that the two sides would strive for progress in these areas.

A welcoming ceremony on the South Lawn for Hu’s first visit as Chinese leader was briefly marred by the screams of a woman critical of the Chinese president. And hundreds of demonstrators massed outside to protest Beijing’s human-rights policies.

Bush, sitting in the Oval Office with Hu before a formal luncheon, praised China for previous progress in what is perhaps the major irritant in the relationship — Beijing’s tightly controlled currency.

The United States views the Chinese yuan as undervalued, and Bush said, “We would hope there would be more appreciation” in allowing the currency to rise with market forces.

On Iran, China has resisted the approach favored by the United States and Europe — pursuing sanctions if Tehran does not comply with demands that it halt uranium enrichment. There appeared to be no movement on that issue.

Basic agreement on Iran
Bush said only that the two sides agreed on the goal of preventing Iran from developing nuclear weapons or having the capability to produce them. The United States and China are in a position to “work on tactics” to achieve that goal, Bush said.

“We don’t agree on everything but we are able to discuss our disagreements in friendship and cooperation,” Bush told reporters.

Hu, aware of the growing U.S. impatience with America’s record $202 billion trade deficit with China, offered general promises to address the yawning gap. But his comments were likely to do little to cool calls in Congress for punitive tariffs on Chinese products.

“We have taken measures and will continue to take steps to resolve the issue,” he said.

Bush put a good face on the meeting.

“He recognizes that a trade deficit with the United States is substantial and it is unsustainable,” the president said of Hu. “Obviously the Chinese government takes the currency issue seriously, and so do I.”

The White House welcome was broadcast across China by Phoenix TV — a 24-hour news cable channel based out of Hong Kong and partly owned by the Beijing government — and also by the BBC World and CNN International services.  However, the coverage turned to black (both video and audio) during Hu’s speech, which was disrupted by a Falun Gong protester. I was watching all three of them in Beijing. When BBC went to black I switched to CNN, which was also black, as was Phoenix TV. The signal from these TV networks is broadcast with a delay, which has been the system for years. Domestic Chinese state TV did not air the ceremony live but broadcast excerpts during its midnight, local time, news show. —Eric Baculinao, NBC’s China producer

Bush also had been hoping to get Beijing to take on more than a mediator’s role in efforts to bring North Korea back to six-nation talks aimed at halting its nuclear weapons program. Asked what more his country could do to resolve the dispute, Hu said that China “has always been making constructive efforts to de-nuclearize the Korean peninsula.”

The two presidents had not been expected to take questions. But an agreement to take questions from two reporters from each country came at the last minute and produced more than a half-hour of back-and-forth as the leaders sat in front of a fireplace.

Afterward, the leaders went into meetings with a larger group of aides and officials.

Bush was host at a formal lunch for China’s first family, with music supplied by a Nashville bluegrass band.

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