Chinese Vice-President in US meet-and-greet

Xi was welcomed to the White House's Roosevelt Room at the start of his day of talks by Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, before meeting with Obama later in the day.

Speaking in the Oval Office through a translator, a smiling Xi told Obama he hoped to deepen mutual understanding and friendship between the US and China. The American president, meanwhile, was more pointed in his remarks.

Obama said China must observe global economic "rules of the road," and referred tactfully to trade and currency tensions between the two economic giants. "That includes ensuring that there is a balanced trade flow not only between the United States and China but around the world," he said.

The meet-and-greet is aimed at building rapport with the man who is expected to be named president of China next year and who could lead the rising Asian power for the next decade.

Human rights abuses

Touching on China's human rights record, Obama said the US intended to remain a key power in Asia-Pacific despite China's rise, and that it would continue to raise human rights issues with Beijing. Washington will "continue to emphasize what we believe is the importance of realizing the aspirations and rights of all people," he remarked.

"We have tried to emphasize that because of China's extraordinary development of the last two decades that with expanding power and prosperity also comes increased responsibility."

Speaking later at a luncheon for Xi at the State Department, Vice President Joe Biden also addressed Beijing's human rights record and sharply criticized its veto of a UN resolution condemning violence in Syria.

"We have been clear about our concern over the areas in which, from our perspective, conditions in China have deteriorated and about the plight of several very prominent individuals. We appreciate your response," Biden said.

Xi replied that China had made "tremendous and well-recognized achievements" in human rights but added: "There is always room for improvement."

"We will, in light of China's national conditions, continue to take concrete and effective policies and measures to promote social fairness, justice and harmony and push forward China's course of human rights," Xi added.

Dozens of pro-Tibet activists camped outside the White House, meanwhile, waving flags in protest at Beijing's control of the restive province and calling for autonomy and respect for human rights in the region.

A weighty relationship

Earlier, Biden commented upon Xi's arrival for his first official visit to the US that the US-China "bilateral relationship is one of the most important in the world."

"We are not always going to see eye to eye" on every issue, Biden said, "but it is a sign of strength and maturity in our relationship that we can talk cordially about our differences."

Ahead of his arrival, Xi said he was looking forward to "an in-depth and candid exchange of views and shared interests."

Xi urged Washington to treat China in an "objective and rational way" and not make relations an election-year issue.

"I believe no one of insight from the US side would like to see that the election factors would have a regrettable impact on the development of ties between the two countries," Xi said, as quoted in English by China's state-run Xinhua news agency.

ccp, dfm/ai (AFP, Reuters, AP)