Click to play
China's economy thrives on selling goods around the world
China is the US government's biggest foreign creditor,
holding $1tn (£608bn) of debt, and has called on it to do more to reduce
its budget deficit.
Officials say Mr Biden will explain the finer points of a "very strong deficit reduction package" agreed by Congress.
He will also talk of "tremendous mutual interest" in global economic recovery.
Vice President Biden is hoping to reassure Beijing that
President Barack Obama's administration has a handle on economic policy
in the wake of a downgrade by ratings agency Standard & Poor's, says
the BBC's Steve Kingstone in Washington.
China's state-run media was scathing over the recent
political showdown in the US over how to increase the debt ceiling and
avert a financial default.
State media criticised the US "addiction to debt", calling it irresponsible and demanding that America live within its means.
Human rights
Mr Biden is travelling at the invitation of his counterpart,
Xi Jinping, as the Obama administration seeks to strengthen ties with
the next generation of Chinese leaders.
Mr Xi is widely expected to take over the chairmanship of the
Chinese Communist Party in 2012 and to be formally anointed as
president in March 2013.
This visit, which was agreed in January, will pave the way for Mr Xi to visit Washington later in the year.
In recent years, the US and China have been at loggerheads
over a number of issues including trade flows and the value of the
Chinese yuan.
From the American side, there are continuing concerns about
China's currency - which is seen as artificially strong - and over a
sharp increase in military spending by Beijing.
In recent months there have been claims of cyber-attacks
emanating from China, while long-standing differences over human rights
and Tibet are likely to surface.
But overall, Washington insists this is fundamentally a
partnership and dismisses suggestions that US-China relations are a
zero-sum game, our correspondent says.
The US vice president's official five-day visit to the region will also take in Japan and Mongolia.
No comments:
Post a Comment