THE TELEGRAPH: America and China have been forced to agree to disagree on a wide range of issues following several hours of talks between US president Barack Obama and his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao in Beijing.
Despite reaffirming the importance of deeper US-China co-operation to world peace and stability, the two sides were unable to disguise the deep differences that separate them on trade, security, climate change and human rights.
Speaking after the talks which formed the centrepiece of Mr Obama's five day tour of Asia, the two presidents laid out their separate positions on key issues during a press conference at which no questions were allowed.
Trade protectionism was high on the agenda with the US and China currently embroiled in its worst round of trade spats since China entered the World Trade Organisation in 2002.
"I stressed to President Obama that under the current circumstances our two countries need to oppose and reject protectionism in all its manifestations in an even stronger stance," Mr Hu said, in a thinly veiled attack on recent US trade measures against Chinese goods.
On Monday a poll by the CNN news network found that more than 70 per cent of Americans viewed China as a threat to the US, putting further domestic pressure on Mr Obama to protect US industries from cheap Chinese imports.
Mr Hu studiously avoided mention of China's currency, which the International Monetary Fund has warned is undervalued, but was prodded firmly on the long-standing issue of contention by Mr Obama. China: talks between Barack Obama and Hu Jintao yield few agreements >>> Peter Foster in Beijing | Tuesday, November 17, 2009
