President Hu is in Washington for a summit on nuclear issues and met with President Obama today, where they were expected to focus in the currency re-evaluation. From MarketWatch:
The bilateral talks will not focus exclusively on currency. The U.S. also wants China’s help on dealing with nuclear threats from Iran and North Korea.
Xiabo Hu, a professor of political science at Clemson University, said the visit of China’s president to Washington is a sign of a significant thaw in relations between the two countries.
The Obama White House and Chinese officials got off to a better start in their relations than had been historically been the case, Hu said. But the bilateral relationship hit a rough patch in recent months over a new global climate change treaty, U.S. arms sales to Taiwan and a White House meeting between Obama and the Dalai Lama, he said.
At a press conference before the meeting, the two leaders did not take questions from the media. Dow Jones reports:
President Barack Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao were tight-lipped when reporters were ushered into a photo opportunity at the start of their meeting here Monday. Neither said a word about the nuclear security summit Obama is hosting, Washington’s concerns over the value of the yuan or China’s displeasure over a U.S. arms sale to Taiwan and Obama’s recent meeting with the Dalai Lama.
Obama’s and Hu’s silence followed a pattern seen throughout the day. Reporters at the nuclear security summit watched as Obama quietly posed for pictures with the leaders of Jordan, Malaysia, Ukraine and Armenia. None made formal statements.
See also “Obama, China’s Hu Press for Strong Words on Iran” from AP.