Beijing, China (CNN) — Chinese President Hu Jintao and U.S. President Barack Obama talked in Beijing on Tuesday of a cooperative future of shared responsibilities and economic opportunities.
Trade, nuclear proliferation and the sticky issue of human rights were all addressed during their session.
The two leaders “talked about continuing to build a positive, cooperative and comprehensive relationship between our nations,” according to Obama, who said he welcomes China’s desire for a greater role in world affairs.
The U.S. delegation was met by an honor guard at the Great Hall of the People, and Obama shook hands with Hu and other top Chinese officials before the two leaders went behind closed doors. It is their fifth meeting in the past year, and they made no public statements beforehand.
The United States imports billions of dollars in Chinese products each year, while China is a major purchaser of the U.S. Treasury bonds that finance America’s budget deficit. Facing a global economic recession, Washington and Beijing are in “a mutual hostage situation,” former Bush administration China analyst Victor Cha said.
“China needs to purchase these Treasuries in order to maintain a strong dollar. Otherwise, the value of their foreign currency holdings goes down dramatically,” Cha told CNN. “We need China in order to finance a lot of the deficit spending we’re doing now. It’s very much intertwined in a way that two countries in the history of international relations have not been intertwined.”
China is also an important player in the diplomatic showdowns over nuclear programs in Iran and North Korea and holds one of five permanent seats on the U.N. Security Council. China is North Korea’s closest ally and has played a key role in the six-party talks aimed at convincing Pyongyang to dismantle its nuclear weapons program.
