胡锦涛主席访美专题报道

Hu Bids Farewell to One Washington, Heads for the Other
Chinese leader talks up trade with Starbucks, Boeing, Microsoft. Next clime may be chillier.
By Sam Howe Verhovek, Times Staff Writer
April 20, 2006


MUKILTEO, Washington ― Chinese President Hu Jintao finished up a two-day visit Wednesday to the one state in the U.S. that carries a trade surplus with his country, pointedly talking up the billions of dollars China will spend in coming years on Boeing airplanes, Microsoft software and even Starbucks coffee, all Washington state products.

But after basking in a mutual-admiration fest with Seattle moguls such as Microsoft's Bill Gates and Starbucks' Howard Schultz, Hu headed to the other Washington, where he is unlikely to receive quite so effusive a welcome from the Bush administration.

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Instead, Presidents Hu and Bush are expected to lock horns over a variety of nettlesome issues between their two superpower nations, including the record $202-billion U.S. trade deficit with China, Beijing's currency policies and the growing demand for petroleum in the world's most populous nation.

In a speech here at Boeing's Future of Flight Aviation Center, Hu said his country was committed to fair trade policies and to cracking down on piracy of software and Hollywood movies, another contentious issue between the United States and China.

The way to solve such issues, he said, is to expand opportunities for each country to invest in the other.

"Strong business ties meet the fundamental interests of our two countries and peoples and will continue to play an important role in stabilizing our relations," Hu said through an interpreter.

He spoke here after touring the Boeing production facility in nearby Everett that manufactures the 747 jumbo jet. Hu noted that Chinese airlines were expected to buy as many as 2,000 planes in the next 20 years, many of which would be Boeing-built.

"Boeing's cooperation with China is a living example of the mutually beneficial cooperation and win-win outcome that China and the United States have achieved from trade with each other," the Chinese leader said.

"This clearly points to a bright tomorrow for future cooperation between Boeing and China."

Though greeted with broad applause at the Boeing and Microsoft offices, Hu's visit also drew several hundred protesters, whose banners and chants called variously for China to get out of Tibet, release political prisoners, recognize Taiwan's independence and stop persecuting Falun Gong, a banned spiritual movement.

At the Boeing museum, Hu was introduced by Gates, whose corporation has been embroiled in controversy over whether it helps expand freedom of information in China or undercuts it by acceding to the regime's restrictions on the Internet.

In his introduction, the Microsoft chairman said he wanted to "protect the privacy and security of Internet users, and promote the exchange of ideas, while respecting legitimate government considerations."

Hu made no mention of Beijing's attempts to control Internet content, describing instead the Chinese people's favorable view of iconic Seattle products.

"Microsoft and Boeing are household names in my country, and Starbucks coffee shops have mushroomed in China's cities," Hu said in remarks Tuesday night during a dinner at Gates' house.

"If I were not serving in this office," he added, with Starbucks chief Schultz nearby, "I would certainly prefer to go into one of the coffee shops run by Starbucks."

Mr Hu pushes all the right buttons at Boeing
From Chris Ayres in Los Angeles



AS CORPORATE America rolls out the red carpet for Hu Jintao, the President of China is putting on the charm.

Mr Hu, visiting the Boeing factory in Seattle yesterday, lowered the shutters to show a side of his personality that Chinese observers had never seen. He accepted a baseball cap with the company logo from an employee and then hugged the surprised worker.



Then Mr Hu said something that his audience enjoyed far more. He told employees of the aircraft maker that China would need to buy 2,000 aircraft during the next 15 years.

On the second day of a four-day visit to the United States, Mr Hu toured three Boeing assembly lines and was briefed on the new Boeing 787 jet under development.

China recently signed a deal with the company to buy 80 737 jets worth about $4 billion (£2.2 billion).

Anticipating pressure from President Bush to take steps to trim his country’s massive trade surplus with the United States, which reached $202 billion last year, Mr Hu predicted a bright future for Boeing in the Chinese market.

In a speech to several hundred Boeing employees at the plant near Seattle, Mr Hu said that his country would need to buy 600 new aircraft during the next five years and 2,000 by 2021 as the Chinese economy continued to race ahead.

“This clearly points to a bright tomorrow for future co-operation between China and Boeing,” he said. For good measure, Mr Hu, who is due to meet Mr Bush in Washington today, noted that the American company had two thirds of the Chinese commercial aviation market.

Mr Hu’s factory visit came at the tail end of a lavish welcome to America for the Chinese President from Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft and the world’s richest man, at his $100 million (£56 million) lakeside mansion in Seattle.

A dinner at the mansion, officially hosted not by Mr Gates but by the Washington State Governor, Christine Gregoire, was attended by 100 dignitaries including Howard Schultz, chairman of Starbucks, the world-conquering Seattle coffee chain.

Dinner conversation included a discussion on software piracy. It is thought that Mr Hu reassured Mr Gates about the enforcement of his recent decree that all PCs made in China must have a licensed operating system installed on them before leaving the factory. As a result of the new law, three Chinese computer manufacturers have already ordered more than $400 million of the Windows operating system from Microsoft.

“We’re encouraged by China’s efforts to strengthen intellectual property protection, which will provide the foundation for continued expansion of the IT industry in China,” Mr Gates said.

Mr Hu responded: “China is focused on and has already accomplished much in creating and enforcing laws to protect intellectual property. We take our promises very seriously.”

Mr Hu is also likely to discuss intellectual property with Mr Bush when the two meet at the White House today. Trade groups say that 90 per cent of DVDs, music CDs and software sold in China are pirated.

In Seattle, advocates of various causes protested near the luxurious Fairmont Hotel, where the Chinese President was staying. These included supporters of the Falun Gong spiritual movement, which is banned in China, and others demanding that China leave Tibet and Taiwan.

In Seattle’s Chinatown, shops displayed Chinese and American flags to welcome the President, and many in the throng outside the hotel wanted to show their support.

Wu Yi, the Chinese Vice-President, during a visit to the United States last week, signed more than $16.2 billion of contracts in an effort to improve trade relations.

Robert Zoellick, the US Deputy Secretary of State, has said that Beijing had been “agonisingly slow” in reforming its currency. American officials say that the yuan is undervalued, making Chinese exports artificially cheap.

Mr Bush, speaking ahead of Mr Hu’s lunch at the White House, said: “We can either look at China and say, ‘Let’s compete with China in a fair way’, or say: ‘We can’t compete with China and therefore ’Skind of isolate ourselves from the world.’ I’ve chosen the former route for the United States.”

Thursday, April 20, 2006

Hu's Boeing visit is a hit with workers
Leader predicts bright future for firm with China

By JAMES WALLACE
P-I AEROSPACE REPORTER

EVERETT -- After predicting a "bright tomorrow" for the 34-year-old relationship between China and The Boeing Co., Chinese President Hu Jintao sent an estimated 5,000 Boeing workers erupting into wild cheers Wednesday with an unusual parting gesture of friendship.

Hu hugged one of their colleagues, Paul Dernier, when the 777 systems installation supervisor presented Hu with a Boeing cap. The president, who had just finished a speech to workers at Boeing's widebody jetliner factory, hugged him twice.

Chinese media traveling with Hu said such a display of affection was rare, although a short time later, before delivering a luncheon speech, Hu hugged former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.

"I was totally and emotionally caught off guard," Dernier, 42, said later in an interview. The president's speech was shown on a huge TV screen set up in a factory bay, and Dernier could be seen wiping a tear from his eyes when Hu, wearing his new Boeing cap, wrapped his arms around the 17-year Boeing veteran and patted him on the back several times. Then he did it again.

Not even Boeing commercial jetliner boss Alan Mulally, standing nearby, got that kind of special treatment from China's president.

Dernier called it a career highlight.

"This means the world to us," Dernier said of the close ties between Boeing and China. "It helps keep our factory open."

Before the speech and a factory tour, Hu met privately at the plant with Mulally. Sources said Boeing Chairman and Chief Executive W. James McNerney Jr. flew in from Boeing's Chicago headquarters also to meet privately with Hu in the plant. McNerney did not make a public appearance.

China has been buying a lot of Boeing planes lately, and there will almost certainly be more orders to come.



In his speech, Hu noted that Chinese aviation officials are forecasting that China will need about 600 commercial jets during the next five years and about 2,000 in the next 15 years.

"This points to a bright tomorrow for future cooperation between Boeing and China," he said.

Hu predicted China's future with Boeing will be "even more successful" than it has been.

And that goes, too, Hu said, for cooperation between China and the United States, which the president said will "fly higher just like Boeing planes."

His remarks to Boeing factory workers were translated into English by an interpreter.

Boeing and Airbus are waging a fierce battle in China, which Boeing forecasts will need more than 2,600 new jets over the next 20 years, more than any region other than North America. Those planes will be worth about $213 billion at list prices, according to Boeing

Hu said Boeing will deliver 380 jets to China in the next few years. Several days ago, China and Boeing announced a tentative deal for 80 of Boeing's single-aisle 737 jets that are assembled in Renton. That came on top of a firm order by Chinese airlines last year for 70 737s and 60 787s, the new Boeing jet that will enter service in 2008 -- just in time to carry passengers on Chinese airlines to the Beijing Olympics that start in August of that year.

When Boeing first announced the 787 order by Chinese airlines, it also announced that it was changing the name of its new jet from the 7E7 to the 787. The number "8" is considered lucky in China.

Even though Boeing and Airbus in recent years have for the most part split new orders coming from China, Hu said that the majority of the commercial jetliners operating today in China are from Boeing, which has been doing business with China since 1972.

Hu noted that he flew from China to the United States on a 747-400.

Airbus is expected to decide soon if it will open an A320 assembly line in China. It would mark the first time that Airbus jets have been assembled outside of Europe. Airbus has acknowledged that its main reason for opening an assembly plant in China would be to help it win more jetliner business.

China already has a significant role in manufacturing parts for Boeing and Airbus planes.

Factories in China make parts for every Boeing jetliner, including the horizontal stabilizer and vertical fin for Boeing's popular 737. China also will manufacture parts for the 787.

Mulally, in a speech to Boeing workers before Hu spoke, said Boeing's partnership with China goes beyond jetliners.

"It is about people working together for the good of all of us," Mulally said.

Mulally and several other Boeing commercial executives, including Mike Bair, head of the 787 program, gave Hu a tour of the Everett factory that included a look at a 747-400 in final assembly and a walk-though of a 777-300 being built for Cathay Pacific of Hong Kong. Media were not allowed on the tour.

About 20,000 Boeing employees work at the Everett site. Of those, about 15,000 who work the first shift were invited to hear Hu's speech. The event was held in a bay where Boeing builds the 767.

Dernier was picked by his 777 teammates to present China's president with the Boeing cap. He said he had not expected to even be able to touch Hu by shaking his hand.

"How many times do you get a hug from the president of China?" he said.

April 20, 2006, 4:36AM
Bush, Hu Meeting to Focus on Tough Issues



WASHINGTON ― While President Bush and Chinese President Hu Jintao both want to cool U.S. anger over a yawning trade gap, hopes have dimmed for a major breakthrough on the biggest irritant _ China's tightly controlled currency.

After two days spent wooing American business leaders in Washington state, Hu was scheduled to meet with Bush at the White House on Thursday for what were expected to be frank discussions about America's $202 billion trade deficit with China, the biggest ever recorded with a single country.

That imbalance has spurred calls in Congress to impose punitive tariffs on Chinese products unless China halts trade practices that critics contend are unfair and have contributed to the loss of nearly 3 million U.S. manufacturing jobs since 2001.

In addition to trade, Bush was to raise a number of other issues with Hu, including a bid for China's help in dealing with current nuclear standoffs with North Korea and Iran, complaints about China's human rights record and questions over China's growing military strength and whether it poses a threat to Taiwan.

The two sides have even disputed what to call the visit, with the Chinese insisting that it is a "state visit," which was the designation former President Jiang Zemin received in 1997, or an "official visit," the designation the Bush administration is using for Hu's trip.

While Hu will not receive the black-tie state dinner, he will be greeted by a 21-gun salute on the South Lawn of the White House and a formal lunch for China's first family, with music supplied by a Nashville bluegrass band.

For his part, Hu has carried on a tradition started by Deng Xiaoping on his first visit to the United States in 1979 of courting American business executives in recognition of the fact that the United States is China's biggest overseas market.

Hu had dinner at the home of Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill Gates on Tuesday and on Wednesday he received a warm welcome from employees at Boeing Co.'s massive Everett, Wash., facilities.

Last week, a contingent of more than 200 Chinese trade officials and business executives toured the United States, signing sales contracts for $16.2 billion in American goods, including 80 Boeing jetliners, all in an effort to show that China is trying to bring down the massive trade gap between the two nations.

In remarks on Wednesday to Boeing employees, Hu said trade issues between the two nations "should not be politicized." Hu said "mutually beneficial cooperation and common development remain the defining feature of our business relations."

Bush has said he hopes Hu will address such thorny disputes as the currency problem and the widespread copyright piracy of American computer programs, music and movies. American manufacturers contend that China is unfairly keeping its currency undervalued against the dollar by 40 percent, giving Chinese firms a huge price advantage over U.S. companies.

White House officials, however, said in advance of Thursday's meetings that they did not expect any major announcements on currency or other trade issues, noting that China did make several commitments last week such as requiring that all personal computers sold in China be loaded with legal software and agreeing to drop a ban on imports of U.S. beef.

Some small progress may be made in the area of energy, where China's rapidly growing economy has increased global demand for crude oil, pushing prices higher, and sent China rushing to lock up sources of supply in such questionable areas as Sudan, Burma and Iran.

"We will follow international practices and work together with the United States and other countries to conduct energy cooperation and maintain order in the international energy market," Hu said Wednesday.

The two countries are expected to agree on a joint study of energy needs in both nations and how they can be met.

But without movement on the currency problem, congressional critics are likely to be unimpressed with the results of the meeting.

"My worry is that economic issues will take a backseat to diplomacy and geopolitical issues," said Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., who is sponsoring legislation that would impose 27.5 percent tariffs on all Chinese products unless China allows its currency to rise further against the dollar.

Frank Vargo, international vice president at the National Association of Manufacturers, said that without more movement from the Chinese, America's trade deficit will only grow larger, increasing pressures in this country to erect protectionist barriers.

Bush To Meet With Chinese President Hu
(Page 1 of 2)

WASHINGTON, April 20, 2006
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Chinese President Hu Jintao stops to greet supporters and media after his arrival at Paine Field in Everett., Wash., on Tuesday, April 18, 2006. (AP)






Fast Facts

The Boeing deal is one of several the Chinese have announced recently as officials try to ease tensions over the trade gap with the U.S. It is one of several issues President Bush is expected to discuss in his White House meeting with Hu.
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(CBS/AP) Trade and the proliferation of nuclear weapons, Iran and North Korea are among the subjects on the agenda Thursday as President Bush meets at the White House with Chinese President Hu Jintao.

The visit, says CBS News Correspondent Celia Hatton, is being watched closely in China, where people want to see whether their president will get the same kind of reception as leaders from Japan and India: a welcome as a true world player and close friend of the United States.

Mr. Bush hasn't said whether human rights will be discussed - but he is at the receiving end of some pressure to bring up the matter.

Rep. Chris Smith (GOP, NJ), chairman of a House subcommittee on human rights, held a hearing Wednesday examining issues including China's record on compliance with international labor standards, freedom of religion and Internet censorship.

"The Chinese government simply cannot let their population increasingly experience the freedom to buy, sell and produce while denying them the right to assemble, speak and worship as they choose," said Smith, in a statement urging President Bush to take up the subject with Hu.

"So-called economic reform has utterly failed to result in the protection of freedom of speech, expression, or assembly," said Smith. "The freedoms that we enjoy in America allow individuals to publish information and news on the Web unfiltered

Hu, in Seattle, tells U.S. not to dwell on divisive issues
By Joseph Kahn The New York Times

THURSDAY, APRIL 20, 2006


SEATTLE Gamely donning a Boeing baseball cap and mingling enthusiastically with local business executives, President Hu Jintao of China said Wednesday that his nation and the United States "enjoy extensive common interests" and could avoid major problems in their relationship if they "avoid politicizing" the issues that divide them.

Hu, on the second day of his first visit to the United States as China's top leader, continued a charm offensive directed mainly at commercial interests and offered an overview of economic relations that broke little new ground but displayed a prodigious memory for statistical data.

In a lunchtime address to 600 local officials and business leaders at a Boeing plant in Everett, Washington, Hu, only occasionally consulting his notes, recited the number of fixed-line telephone users in China (740 million), the installed capacity of nuclear power plants there (30,000 megawatts), China's export volume in 2005 ($1.4221 trillion) and the number of foreign-invested enterprises that have set up shop there since 1979 (530,000, including 49,000 linked to the United States), as examples of the boundless opportunities the two countries share.

He will meet President Bush at the White House on Thursday. While their talks are likely to cover a variety of topics, including the Iranian nuclear program, religious freedom and energy policy, Hu on Wednesday mainly took aim at a recent surge of protectionist pressure in Congress and defended the mutual benefits of open trade.

He cited research conducted by the American Chamber of Commerce in Beijing and Morgan Stanley, the investment bank, that he said underscored how trade with China was overwhelmingly beneficial to the United States.

"According to Morgan Stanley, in 2004 alone, high-quality yet inexpensive Chinese goods saved U.S. consumers $100 billion, and trading with China created over four million jobs in the United States," he said. "The fast-growing bilateral business ties have delivered great benefits to our peoples."

Hu acknowledged that some problems existed in ties between the countries, calling them "hardly avoidable." But unlike the Bush administration, which has laid out concerns about China's military spending, currency policy and quest for oil in considerable detail, Hu offered mostly oratorical platitudes.

He did not signal that he planned to reach major new accords with Bush. He stood firm on China's management of its currency, repeating the now standard line that Beijing intends to keep the exchange rate "basically stable," even as he promised to move toward greater flexibility down the road. The Bush administration and Congressional leaders have said the yuan is greatly undervalued and gives China an artificial trade advantage.

"China and the United States are fully capable of settling the problems that have occurred in the course of business growth and keeping their business relations on a sound track," Hu said.

Earlier in the day, he met a group of Chinese and American former officials and scholars who were convened in Seattle to discuss Chinese-American relations and China's rising power.

Although the participants included former Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger; William J. Perry, a former secretary of defense; and many other notables from both countries, Hu delivered a few remarks about China's "peaceful development" strategy and did not engage in any dialogue, participants said.

At the Boeing lunch, he selected two written questions from a pile submitted by people in the audience, both of which turned out to be gently worded requests for him to expand on his vision for bilateral ties.

Before his lunch speech, Hu toured the Boeing site in a golf cart, met privately with company executives and visited a mock-up of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, a next-generation airplane. China has said it will buy 60 of the new twin-engine, widebody jets, becoming what Boeing calls a "launch customer" for the line of aircraft.

As he did at Microsoft on Tuesday, Hu turned on the charm when talking about China's enthusiasm for Boeing products. He sounded at times like a Boeing salesman, rattling off statistics about past deliveries and current orders for Boeing planes, the number of Boeing aircraft Chinese airlines now fly, 542, and the amount of money China has spent buying Boeing planes since Richard Nixon's historic visit in 1972, $37 billion.

"Boeing is a household name in China," Hu said. "When Chinese people fly, it is mostly in a Boeing plane. I'm pleased to say that I came to the United States on a Boeing plane."

Hu actually arrived in Seattle on Tuesday and flew to Washington on Wednesday from Paine Field, Boeing's private airport. His Air China 747-400 stood on the tarmac outside the Future of Flight museum where he spoke at lunch.

Alan R. Mulally, president of Boeing's commercial aircraft division, introduced Hu to a group of 5,000 Boeing workers in an event that had the aura of a pep rally. After Hu made a glowing tribute to Boeing's tradition of innovation, Mulally said simply, "China rocks."

Leslie Wayne contributed reporting for this article.

SEATTLE Gamely donning a Boeing baseball cap and mingling enthusiastically with local business executives, President Hu Jintao of China said Wednesday that his nation and the United States "enjoy extensive common interests" and could avoid major problems in their relationship if they "avoid politicizing" the issues that divide them.

Hu, on the second day of his first visit to the United States as China's top leader, continued a charm offensive directed mainly at commercial interests and offered an overview of economic relations that broke little new ground but displayed a prodigious memory for statistical data.

In a lunchtime address to 600 local officials and business leaders at a Boeing plant in Everett, Washington, Hu, only occasionally consulting his notes, recited the number of fixed-line telephone users in China (740 million), the installed capacity of nuclear power plants there (30,000 megawatts), China's export volume in 2005 ($1.4221 trillion) and the number of foreign-invested enterprises that have set up shop there since 1979 (530,000, including 49,000 linked to the United States), as examples of the boundless opportunities the two countries share.

He will meet President Bush at the White House on Thursday. While their talks are likely to cover a variety of topics, including the Iranian nuclear program, religious freedom and energy policy, Hu on Wednesday mainly took aim at a recent surge of protectionist pressure in Congress and defended the mutual benefits of open trade.

He cited research conducted by the American Chamber of Commerce in Beijing and Morgan Stanley, the investment bank, that he said underscored how trade with China was overwhelmingly beneficial to the United States.

"According to Morgan Stanley, in 2004 alone, high-quality yet inexpensive Chinese goods saved U.S. consumers $100 billion, and trading with China created over four million jobs in the United States," he said. "The fast-growing bilateral business ties have delivered great benefits to our peoples."

Hu acknowledged that some problems existed in ties between the countries, calling them "hardly avoidable." But unlike the Bush administration, which has laid out concerns about China's military spending, currency policy and quest for oil in considerable detail, Hu offered mostly oratorical platitudes.

He did not signal that he planned to reach major new accords with Bush. He stood firm on China's management of its currency, repeating the now standard line that Beijing intends to keep the exchange rate "basically stable," even as he promised to move toward greater flexibility down the road. The Bush administration and Congressional leaders have said the yuan is greatly undervalued and gives China an artificial trade advantage.

"China and the United States are fully capable of settling the problems that have occurred in the course of business growth and keeping their business relations on a sound track," Hu said.

Earlier in the day, he met a group of Chinese and American former officials and scholars who were convened in Seattle to discuss Chinese-American relations and China's rising power.

Although the participants included former Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger; William J. Perry, a former secretary of defense; and many other notables from both countries, Hu delivered a few remarks about China's "peaceful development" strategy and did not engage in any dialogue, participants said.

At the Boeing lunch, he selected two written questions from a pile submitted by people in the audience, both of which turned out to be gently worded requests for him to expand on his vision for bilateral ties.

Before his lunch speech, Hu toured the Boeing site in a golf cart, met privately with company executives and visited a mock-up of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, a next-generation airplane. China has said it will buy 60 of the new twin-engine, widebody jets, becoming what Boeing calls a "launch customer" for the line of aircraft.

As he did at Microsoft on Tuesday, Hu turned on the charm when talking about China's enthusiasm for Boeing products. He sounded at times like a Boeing salesman, rattling off statistics about past deliveries and current orders for Boeing planes, the number of Boeing aircraft Chinese airlines now fly, 542, and the amount of money China has spent buying Boeing planes since Richard Nixon's historic visit in 1972, $37 billion.

"Boeing is a household name in China," Hu said. "When Chinese people fly, it is mostly in a Boeing plane. I'm pleased to say that I came to the United States on a Boeing plane."

Hu actually arrived in Seattle on Tuesday and flew to Washington on Wednesday from Paine Field, Boeing's private airport. His Air China 747-400 stood on the tarmac outside the Future of Flight museum where he spoke at lunch.

Alan R. Mulally, president of Boeing's commercial aircraft division, introduced Hu to a group of 5,000 Boeing workers in an event that had the aura of a pep rally. After Hu made a glowing tribute to Boeing's tradition of innovation, Mulally said simply, "China rocks."

Leslie Wayne contributed reporting for this article.

SEATTLE Gamely donning a Boeing baseball cap and mingling enthusiastically with local business executives, President Hu Jintao of China said Wednesday that his nation and the United States "enjoy extensive common interests" and could avoid major problems in their relationship if they "avoid politicizing" the issues that divide them.

Hu, on the second day of his first visit to the United States as China's top leader, continued a charm offensive directed mainly at commercial interests and offered an overview of economic relations that broke little new ground but displayed a prodigious memory for statistical data.

In a lunchtime address to 600 local officials and business leaders at a Boeing plant in Everett, Washington, Hu, only occasionally consulting his notes, recited the number of fixed-line telephone users in China (740 million), the installed capacity of nuclear power plants there (30,000 megawatts), China's export volume in 2005 ($1.4221 trillion) and the number of foreign-invested enterprises that have set up shop there since 1979 (530,000, including 49,000 linked to the United States), as examples of the boundless opportunities the two countries share.

He will meet President Bush at the White House on Thursday. While their talks are likely to cover a variety of topics, including the Iranian nuclear program, religious freedom and energy policy, Hu on Wednesday mainly took aim at a recent surge of protectionist pressure in Congress and defended the mutual benefits of open trade.

He cited research conducted by the American Chamber of Commerce in Beijing and Morgan Stanley, the investment bank, that he said underscored how trade with China was overwhelmingly beneficial to the United States.

"According to Morgan Stanley, in 2004 alone, high-quality yet inexpensive Chinese goods saved U.S. consumers $100 billion, and trading with China created over four million jobs in the United States," he said. "The fast-growing bilateral business ties have delivered great benefits to our peoples."

Hu acknowledged that some problems existed in ties between the countries, calling them "hardly avoidable." But unlike the Bush administration, which has laid out concerns about China's military spending, currency policy and quest for oil in considerable detail, Hu offered mostly oratorical platitudes.

He did not signal that he planned to reach major new accords with Bush. He stood firm on China's management of its currency, repeating the now standard line that Beijing intends to keep the exchange rate "basically stable," even as he promised to move toward greater flexibility down the road. The Bush administration and Congressional leaders have said the yuan is greatly undervalued and gives China an artificial trade advantage.

"China and the United States are fully capable of settling the problems that have occurred in the course of business growth and keeping their business relations on a sound track," Hu said.

Earlier in the day, he met a group of Chinese and American former officials and scholars who were convened in Seattle to discuss Chinese-American relations and China's rising power.

Although the participants included former Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger; William J. Perry, a former secretary of defense; and many other notables from both countries, Hu delivered a few remarks about China's "peaceful development" strategy and did not engage in any dialogue, participants said.

At the Boeing lunch, he selected two written questions from a pile submitted by people in the audience, both of which turned out to be gently worded requests for him to expand on his vision for bilateral ties.

Before his lunch speech, Hu toured the Boeing site in a golf cart, met privately with company executives and visited a mock-up of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, a next-generation airplane. China has said it will buy 60 of the new twin-engine, widebody jets, becoming what Boeing calls a "launch customer" for the line of aircraft.

As he did at Microsoft on Tuesday, Hu turned on the charm when talking about China's enthusiasm for Boeing products. He sounded at times like a Boeing salesman, rattling off statistics about past deliveries and current orders for Boeing planes, the number of Boeing aircraft Chinese airlines now fly, 542, and the amount of money China has spent buying Boeing planes since Richard Nixon's historic visit in 1972, $37 billion.

"Boeing is a household name in China," Hu said. "When Chinese people fly, it is mostly in a Boeing plane. I'm pleased to say that I came to the United States on a Boeing plane."

Hu actually arrived in Seattle on Tuesday and flew to Washington on Wednesday from Paine Field, Boeing's private airport. His Air China 747-400 stood on the tarmac outside the Future of Flight museum where he spoke at lunch.

Alan R. Mulally, president of Boeing's commercial aircraft division, introduced Hu to a group of 5,000 Boeing workers in an event that had the aura of a pep rally. After Hu made a glowing tribute to Boeing's tradition of innovation, Mulally said simply, "China rocks."

Leslie Wayne contributed reporting for this article.

SEATTLE Gamely donning a Boeing baseball cap and mingling enthusiastically with local business executives, President Hu Jintao of China said Wednesday that his nation and the United States "enjoy extensive common interests" and could avoid major problems in their relationship if they "avoid politicizing" the issues that divide them.



Hu, on the second day of his first visit to the United States as China's top leader, continued a charm offensive directed mainly at commercial interests and offered an overview of economic relations that broke little new ground but displayed a prodigious memory for statistical data.

In a lunchtime address to 600 local officials and business leaders at a Boeing plant in Everett, Washington, Hu, only occasionally consulting his notes, recited the number of fixed-line telephone users in China (740 million), the installed capacity of nuclear power plants there (30,000 megawatts), China's export volume in 2005 ($1.4221 trillion) and the number of foreign-invested enterprises that have set up shop there since 1979 (530,000, including 49,000 linked to the United States), as examples of the boundless opportunities the two countries share.

He will meet President Bush at the White House on Thursday. While their talks are likely to cover a variety of topics, including the Iranian nuclear program, religious freedom and energy policy, Hu on Wednesday mainly took aim at a recent surge of protectionist pressure in Congress and defended the mutual benefits of open trade.

He cited research conducted by the American Chamber of Commerce in Beijing and Morgan Stanley, the investment bank, that he said underscored how trade with China was overwhelmingly beneficial to the United States.

"According to Morgan Stanley, in 2004 alone, high-quality yet inexpensive Chinese goods saved U.S. consumers $100 billion, and trading with China created over four million jobs in the United States," he said. "The fast-growing bilateral business ties have delivered great benefits to our peoples."

Hu acknowledged that some problems existed in ties between the countries, calling them "hardly avoidable." But unlike the Bush administration, which has laid out concerns about China's military spending, currency policy and quest for oil in considerable detail, Hu offered mostly oratorical platitudes.

He did not signal that he planned to reach major new accords with Bush. He stood firm on China's management of its currency, repeating the now standard line that Beijing intends to keep the exchange rate "basically stable," even as he promised to move toward greater flexibility down the road. The Bush administration and Congressional leaders have said the yuan is greatly undervalued and gives China an artificial trade advantage.

"China and the United States are fully capable of settling the problems that have occurred in the course of business growth and keeping their business relations on a sound track," Hu said.

Earlier in the day, he met a group of Chinese and American former officials and scholars who were convened in Seattle to discuss Chinese-American relations and China's rising power.

Although the participants included former Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger; William J. Perry, a former secretary of defense; and many other notables from both countries, Hu delivered a few remarks about China's "peaceful development" strategy and did not engage in any dialogue, participants said.

At the Boeing lunch, he selected two written questions from a pile submitted by people in the audience, both of which turned out to be gently worded requests for him to expand on his vision for bilateral ties.

Before his lunch speech, Hu toured the Boeing site in a golf cart, met privately with company executives and visited a mock-up of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, a next-generation airplane. China has said it will buy 60 of the new twin-engine, widebody jets, becoming what Boeing calls a "launch customer" for the line of aircraft.

As he did at Microsoft on Tuesday, Hu turned on the charm when talking about China's enthusiasm for Boeing products. He sounded at times like a Boeing salesman, rattling off statistics about past deliveries and current orders for Boeing planes, the number of Boeing aircraft Chinese airlines now fly, 542, and the amount of money China has spent buying Boeing planes since Richard Nixon's historic visit in 1972, $37 billion.

"Boeing is a household name in China," Hu said. "When Chinese people fly, it is mostly in a Boeing plane. I'm pleased to say that I came to the United States on a Boeing plane."

Hu actually arrived in Seattle on Tuesday and flew to Washington on Wednesday from Paine Field, Boeing's private airport. His Air China 747-400 stood on the tarmac outside the Future of Flight museum where he spoke at lunch.

Alan R. Mulally, president of Boeing's commercial aircraft division, introduced Hu to a group of 5,000 Boeing workers in an event that had the aura of a pep rally. After Hu made a glowing tribute to Boeing's tradition of innovation, Mulally said simply, "China rocks."

Leslie Wayne contributed reporting for this article.

Hu winds up visit to applause, hugs
President promises to allow greater access to China's huge market by U.S. businesses



Wearing a Boeing cap, Chinese President Hu Jintao waves to workers Wednesday at the Everett plant. At left, Boeing exec Alan Mulally.

EVERETT -- Chinese President Hu Jintao capped his 27-hour visit to the Seattle area Wednesday with on-stage hugs and proclamations of trans-Pacific friendship, promising to forge a global partnership with the United States and allow greater access to China's vast markets.

Before heading to a White House meeting with President Bush, Hu expressed concerns about his nation's massive trade surplus with the United States and deftly used the media spotlight surrounding the historic trip to show his softer side.

 
  PAUL JOSEPH BROWN / P-I
Wearing a Boeing cap, Chinese President Hu Jintao waves to workers Wednesday at the Everett plant. At left, Boeing exec Alan Mulally.
At The Boeing Co.'s Everett plant, the normally reserved Hu surprised a supervisor by hugging him -- twice. Less than an hour later, he was wrapping his arms around former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, who helped normalize ties with China during the Nixon administration.

At the Future of Flight Museum here, where he gave a long policy address, Hu told a receptive crowd of 600 dignitaries that he will open his country's doors to more U.S. businesses.

"I hope the American companies will seize opportunities, aggressively expand their share of China's market and continue to enhance their business ties with China," Hu said through an interpreter.

He delivered the message -- to be broadcast to about 1.3 billion Chinese -- from behind a lectern emblazoned with youyi, meaning friendship. So did Gov. Christine Gregoire, Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill Gates and former Gov. Gary Locke, who helped organize the visit.

Given China's 5,000-year history, the two-day Seattle visit was just a speck in time. But as Washington state government and business leaders know, reciprocity and diplomacy count with face-conscious Chinese officials.

 
  Seven-year-old Dylan Locke, son of former Gov. Gary Locke, waits to present flowers to China's Hu Jintao upon the president's arrival at a luncheon Wednesday at the Future of Flight Museum in Mukilteo with Washington dignitaries.
Many state leaders hope his Northwest visit can serve as a positive foundation for the talks today between Bush and Hu.


Seven-year-old Dylan Locke, son of former Gov. Gary Locke, waits to present flowers to China's Hu Jintao upon the president's arrival at a luncheon Wednesday at the Future of Flight Museum in Mukilteo with Washington dignitaries.

"On our part, we hope that the United States will take steps to promote the export of U.S. products to China, including easing export controls and reducing protectionist measures in the interest of addressing the trade imbalance issue in a better and more effective way," Hu said in his speech.

Gates had the honor of introducing Hu, who reiterated promises to institute better protections of intellectual property -- saying the government will "crack down hard" on piracy.

That is a key issue for Microsoft, whose Windows operating system is widely pirated in China. Gates called the Chinese government's efforts encouraging.

China's president also referred to the increasingly interconnected nature of the world's economy, particularly when it comes to information technology.

"Living in such a world, we must be global in view and outlook, give a high priority to exchanges and cooperation, draw on each other's experience and seek mutual benefits, win-win outcomes and common development," he said.

The hint for greater U.S.-China cooperation was clear. Minutes earlier, he said globalization has led to "overlapping national interests among countries." He also called for the two superpowers to "strengthen coordination to uphold the international free trade regime."

In the United States, Microsoft's MSN and other Internet services have faced criticism for complying with Chinese government censorship. Gates referred generally to online "challenges" as part of his remarks.

Joseph Borich, executive director of the Washington State China Relations Council, said the state of U.S.-China relations is of huge global importance.

"It will be that way, probably for the rest of this century. If we don't manage it right, if we don't get it right, it won't be a century we'll want to remember," he said.

"If we do get it right, I think we're going to have 100 years of prosperity and peace. ... But one of the things that will help build trust is if they follow through on their commitments."

The call for greater cooperation impressed Ming Zhang, a senior partner with MulvannyG2 Architecture. The Bellevue firm has completed several projects in China and stands to benefit from China's increased protection of intellectual-property rights.

"The cooperation between the two countries is getting broader and more important and (there are) more opportunities for American companies," he said.

But in Washington, D.C., Hu is expected to face difficult discussions with Bush over many of the issues he touched on here.

Borich said the Chinese leader will need to continue to send his message about cooperation to allay critics, including some federal lawmakers, in the nation's capital.

During a morning address to Boeing employees in Everett, Hu also alluded to the trade issue -- noting that China has bought more than $37 billion in Boeing planes over the years.



 
  At the Future of Flight Museum in Mukilteo, former Gov. Gary Locke offers a toast, with Starbucks mugs, to Chinese President Hu as Gov. Christine Gregoire joins in.
Sensitive subjects such as human rights in China were not brought up directly by Hu or any of the Seattle-area dignitaries who spoke publicly during his visit. "The president was able to experience what America is all about -- that we embrace diversity of viewpoints, that we would allow protesters so close to his hotel and along his route," Locke said after Hu's speech. "I believe we were able to showcase how America is able to prosper, is able to be even more creative, by allowing freedom of opinions."

People attending Hu's policy address included a host of U.S. and Chinese dignitaries, including Clark Randt, Jr., the U.S. ambassador to China, and Brent Scowcroft, a former national security adviser under President George H.W. Bush.

Business executives in the audience included Starbucks Corp. Chairman Howard Schultz. In comments Tuesday, Hu singled out the coffee retailer by saying, "If I were not serving in this office, I would certainly prefer to go into one of the coffee shops run by Starbucks."

"Everyone from Starbucks was so honored to hear him mention the Starbucks experience the way he did," particularly since the company is still in its relatively early years in the country, Schultz said in an interview.

Outside, supporters of the Falun Gong spiritual movement continued their protests. A small group of demonstrators repeated their claims of persecution by the Chinese government, which banned the spiritual movement in 1999.

Even though they might not have gotten close enough to Hu's entourage to catch his attention, protesters said they were certain the Chinese government was aware of them.

"We found many Chinese agents (in Seattle) and they took pictures of us," said Feng Zhu of Vancouver, B.C., a reporter for the Sound of Hope radio network, which is friendly toward Falun Gong.

Suju Jiang of Vancouver said she was placed in a stifling Beijing detention center for 15 days in the summer of 2000 for making a "peaceful appeal" to the government.

"I don't fear. I think what we're doing is righteous," she said, holding a banner that declared that the Chinese Communist Party is "doomed."

According to the Seattle Police Department, there were no arrests or citations during Hu's visit.

"It went off without any hitch," said department spokeswoman Debra Brown, who noted that local police worked successfully with the Secret Service and other agencies to provide security during Hu's stay in Seattle.



THE NEXT STOP

HU'S ITINERARY

Chinese President Hu Jintao is scheduled to meet with President Bush at the White House today. Plans also call for him to give a speech at Yale University in New Haven, Conn.

SPEECH ON TV

TVW will air Hu's policy speech at the Future of Flight Museum today at 9:30 p.m. It also will be available in streaming video on TVW's Web site: www.tvw.org.

April 20, 2006, 1:36AM
THE HU VISIT
Lovefest mutual in Seattle
Chinese leader may get a different reception in the other Washington



MUKILTEO, WASH. - Chinese President Hu Jintao finished a two-day visit Wednesday to the one state in the U.S. that carries a trade surplus with his country, pointedly talking up the billions of dollars China will spend in coming years on Boeing airplanes, Microsoft software and even Starbucks coffee, all Washington state products.

But after basking in a mutual-admiration society with Seattle moguls Bill Gates and Starbucks chairman Howard Schultz, Hu headed to the other Washington, the District of Columbia variety, where he is unlikely to receive so effusive a welcome from the Bush administration.

Instead, Hu and Bush are expected to lock horns over a range of nettlesome issues between their two superpower nations, including the record $200 billion U.S. trade deficit with China, Beijing's currency policies and the growing demand for oil in the world's most populous nation.

In a speech at Boeing's Future of Flight Aviation Center, Hu said his country was committed to fair trade policies and to cracking down on piracy of software and Hollywood movies, another contentious issue between the United States and China.

The way to solve such issues, he said, was to expand opportunities for each country to invest in the other.

"Strong business ties meet the fundamental interests of our two countries and peoples and will continue to play an important role in stabilizing our relations," Hu said.

He spoke after touring the Boeing production center in nearby Everett that manufactures the 747 jumbo jet.

While greeted with broad applause at both Boeing and Microsoft offices, Hu's visit also drew several hundred protesters, whose banners and chants called for China to get out of Tibet, release political prisoners, recognize Taiwan's independence and stop persecuting Falun Gong, a banned spiritual movement.

At the Boeing museum, Hu was introduced by Gates, whose Microsoft corporation has been embroiled in controversy over whether it helps expand freedom of information in China or undercuts it by acceding to the regime's restrictions on the Internet.

In his introduction, Gates said he wanted to "protect the privacy and security of Internet users and promote the exchange of ideas, while respecting legitimate government considerations."

Hu made no mention of Beijing's attempts to control Internet content, describing instead the Chinese people's favorable view of iconic Seattle products.

"Microsoft and Boeing are household names in my country, and Starbucks coffee shops have mushroomed in China's cities," Hu said.

Posted to the web on: 20 April 2006
Beeline to chez Gates sends stark message to White House
William Pesek Jr

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Bloomberg


A WORD to those awaiting the outcome of Hu Jintao’s visit to the White House: the news is already out, and it is the Chinese president’s itinerary.

Before doing lunch with US President George Bush in Washington today, Hu dined with Microsoft chairman Bill Gates in Washington state on Tuesday.

You would think Hu, anxious to make a big splash in the US, would make a beeline for the White House.

But no, Gates first, Bush later.

It is a scheduling decision with a message: China’s relationship with the US is focused more on industry than on government.

The US, after all, refuses to classify Hu’s trip as a state visit, an honour afforded to his predecessor, Jiang Zemin, in 1997.

So perhaps the Bush administration should not be surprised if Hu treats the White House as a stopover between Gates, the world’s richest man, and Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil producer. Hu’s itinerary says it all.

After checking in with the people at Microsoft and Boeing and then with Bush, Hu heads off to Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Nigeria and Kenya, where China’s interests are no mystery: energy.

Call it practical planning. Few expect much from Hu’s first official US visit since becoming president three years ago.

It is an election year in the US and a record Chinese trade surplus that trebled last year to $102bn ― and keeps growing ― is unnerving congress.


The Bush administration is anxious about China’s rising military spending and its dealings with regimes the US wants to isolate ― including Iran, Sudan and Venezuela.

Bush wants China to strengthen its currency and may ask for assurances that it is not about to dump some of the $265bn US treasury debt that it holds.

China has its own list of concerns. It wants to avoid a trade war with the world’s biggest economy, while creating the impression that its relationship with the US is a constructive one.


Neither leader is about to cede much, making Hu’s visit to the White House little more than a photo opportunity.

After the flashbulbs stop firing, Bush can tell his base that he pushed Hu on issues such as the yuan, human rights, China’s embrace of some unsavoury governments and its role in taming North Korea.

Hu can go home and say he stood firm against Washington’s demands and reminded the US of China’s rising clout, both economically and politically.


Hu’s visit to Gates may also be significant in relation to China’s campaign against piracy.

Anyone who has been to China recently is likely to chuckle heartily when Beijing says it has cracked down on piracy.

One does not need to look for violations of intellectual property rights ― they find you, and often.

You are accosted with offers for fake designer goods, DVDs and software. About 90% of software is pirated, according to the Business Software Alliance.

Piracy may be a bigger problem for China than for the Microsofts, Louis Vuittons and Bulgaris of the world.

While it hurts corporate profits, it does even more damage to entrepreneurship in the most populous country.



When I see how rampant piracy is, it is not Tom Cruise’s pay cheque nor Nike’s bottom line that I weep about, but the conspicuous lack of Bill Gates-like visionaries to emerge from China.

China’s economy does not need more factories; it needs more 20-somethings perched before laptops, lab tables or drawing boards coming up with new products and ideas.


The economy is growing 10%, attracting loads of foreign direct investment and getting lots of great press.


China is already the world’s factory floor and is working to create service industries.

The next step in its development is creating ideas, technologies and products that no one has thought of before.

Its future as an innovative powerhouse ― and its ability to create millions of jobs ― depends on protecting the ownership of those advances.

Few think the US and China will become trusted friends any time soon. Hu’s travel schedule suggests China is betting that economic ties will overcome political mistrust.

China’s leader may just end up being right about that.

Chinese president arrives in Washington

www.chinaview.cn 2006-04-20 12:41:51



Chinese President Hu Jintao (1st R) is presented a bunch of flowers as he gets off the plane in Washington, capital of the United States, on April 19. (Photo: Xinhua)


  WASHINGTON, April 19 (Xinhua) -- Visiting Chinese President Hu Jintao arrived here Wednesday from Seattle to continue his four-day state visit to the United States as guest of U.S. President George W. Bush.

  Hu is expected to hold talks with Bush and meet with other U.S. leaders on Thursday to exchange views on bilateral relations and major international and regional issues of common concern.

  On Wednesday morning, Hu visited a Boeing factory in Everett of Washington State where he toured the production line and addressed Boeing employees.

  Before leaving Seattle for Washington, Hu attended a luncheon hosted by the Washington State, the Seattle business community and local organizations, and delivered a speech titled "Deepen Mutually Beneficial Cooperation to Promote Common Development."

  This is Hu's first state visit to the United States, with Seattle being the first stop of his four-day stay in the country.

  The United States is the first leg of his five-nation tour, which will also take him to Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Nigeria and Kenya. Enditem

Editor: Lin Li