US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was to arrive in Beijing Sunday ahead of talks with Chinese leaders on bilateral trade issues and security threats including renewed tensions on the Korean peninsula.
Clinton was scheduled to arrive in the capital at 2:50 pm (0650 GMT) and later attend a state dinner hosted by Dai Bingguo, a member of China’s State Council, or cabinet.
On Monday, Clinton and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner will open two days of talks with Dai and fellow State Councillor Wang Qishan as part of the annual Strategic and Economic Dialogue, the highest-level bilateral forum.
Korean tensions have leapt to the top of the agenda after a multinational panel said on Thursday that evidence indicated a North Korean submarine torpedoed the South Korean corvette Cheonan in March, killing 46 sailors.
Clinton was expected to seek Beijing’s cooperation in backing a response against North Korea, which is heavily dependent on trade and diplomatic support from its neighbour and closest ally, China.
Speaking on Sunday in Shanghai a day after visiting the World Expo, Clinton emphasised the importance of China and the United States working together on such issues.
“Virtually every major challenge that we face in the world requires China and the United States to work together,” she said during a visit to the US consulate general in the city.
Pyongyang rejected the investigators’ findings and launched threats of war if it is punished by the international community. China has called for restraint and said it would study the investigators’ report.
Beijing’s support is seen as key for any UN action targeting the North. It is one of the five veto-wielding members of the UN Security Council.
Relations between Washington and Beijing have improved recently after a rocky patch earlier in the year over US arms sales to Taiwan, Obama’s White House meeting with the Dalai Lama, Internet freedom and trade disputes.
But the two sides were expected to take up contentious trade and investment issues ranging from US calls for a reform of the yuan currency to increasing American sanctions on Chinese products.
Some in the US Congress accuse Beijing of keeping its currency artificially low to boost its exports.
Chinese industrial policies restricting US and other foreign businesses as well as perennial charges of copyright piracy in the world’s most populous nation are also on the agenda.
During a visit to a Boeing aircraft maintenance site in Shanghai, Clinton on Sunday called for a level playing field for trade in China.
“For trade to work in any economy and for it to produce the benefits we know it can, there must be a level playing field where domestic and international companies can compete freely and openly,” she said.
In April, an annual report by US Trade Representative Ron Kirk said China had erected new hurdles to foreign competition with rules favouring domestic firms.
