中
国国家副主席习近平周二与美国总统奥巴马(Barack Obama)举行了首次会晤。习近平此行可能影响未来10年的中美双边关系。外界预计，习近平将成为中国下一任最高领导人。
Bloomberg News
周二在白宫，美国总统奥巴马会见中国国家副主席习近平。
随习近平访美的代表团约有200名成员，他们还遭遇了数百名抗议者，包括西藏和维吾尔族活动人士及中国民主活动人士。
美国官员将习近平的访美之行视为一个让政府官员、国会议员和商界领袖了解他的难得机会。外界普遍认为，在今年10月或11月进行的10年一次的领导人换届中，习近平将成为中共中央总书记，实际上是中国的最高领导人。
对中国来说，此行的主要任务是在国内外树立习近平的形象──一个有能力处理中美关系的未来世界领导人。不过，在美国总统大选、中国领导人换届的一年，双方都不愿被外界视为在主要争端上做出让步。
但双方确实宣布达成了数项协议，包括中国承诺向外国投资者开放中国的汽车保险市场，此举是中国朝着满足美国的要求──扩大中国金融服务市场的准入──迈出的重要一步。
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美国官员说，他们认识到，作为副主席，习近平可能不会做出太多让步，因为他担心这样做可能会抢了现任领导人的风头或是显得软弱。但美国政府希望确保通过此次访问，他能够对美国的看法有充分的了解。
奥巴马在会晤开始时重申，美国欢迎中国的和平崛起，但他说，不断扩大的实力和繁荣也带来了更大的责任。奥巴马说，中国必须与世界其他国家和地区一样遵守相同的经济规则，他还敦促习近平承认所有人的抱负和权利
拜登在欢迎习近平的午宴上发表了讲话。他的讲话更为直接，详尽地谈到了美国对一些问题的关切，包括知识产权、汇率政策和强制性技术转让以及中国否决联合国安理会(United Nations Security Council)谴责叙利亚政府暴力镇压抗议者的决议草案等。
白宫随后说，奥巴马与习近平的会谈友好且务实。一位美国政府官员说，奥巴马对习近平说人民币被低估，敦促习近平在平衡中国经济方面取得更多进展，以刺激进口需求，而不仅是鼓励出口。两人还谈到了朝鲜问题。就中国在执行对伊朗制裁方面所发挥的作用，奥巴马表示了赞赏。这位官员说，奥巴马表达了美国对于中国否决叙利亚问题决议草案以及人权重要性的失望。
尽管如此，两位领导人仍竭力强调他们对两国关系的重视。
Lan Hongguang/Xinhua/Zuma Press
图片：习近平的访美之行
习近平说，希望当天的会谈能让两国加强共识，加深友谊。
中国国务院总理温家宝在北京为中国处理叙利亚危机一事进行了辩护。他说，中国在努力防止叙利亚暴力行为的扩散。
温家宝还说，中国在叙利亚问题上绝不会庇护任何一方，包括叙利亚政府。
周二，一些西藏活动人士连续第二天在白宫外抗议中国政府的西藏政策。他们认为，去年出现的一系列藏民自焚事件应归咎于这些政策。
无法联系到中国驻美大使馆官员就习近平在美国的会晤活动或白宫外的抗议活动置评。
习近平在白宫椭圆形办公室(Oval Office)与奥巴马举行了近一个半小时的会晤，会晤结束时习近平邀请奥巴马与夫人米歇尔•奥巴马(Michelle Obama)访问中国。白宫没有明确表示奥巴马夫妇是否会应邀前往。奥巴马将在今年谋求连任，访问中国在政治上和筹备方面都有难度，但如果他连任成功，访华之旅就可能成行。此外，习近平在美国五角大楼与有关官员会晤时说，他支持中美两国国防部长之间的交流。五角大楼以隆重的军礼为习近平举行了正式欢迎仪式，这是美国首次以如此规格接待到访的外国副总统级别人物。周二这一天，双方精心安排了多场演讲和会晤，习近平基本上是照本宣科，他在捍卫中国的政策的同时，也表明了希望与美国进行密切合作的意愿。
虽然习近平在此访中展现坦率自然风格的时刻并不多，但观察人士说，相比现任国家主席胡锦涛，习近平看上去更为自信和放松。
比如习近平保证他将同美国社会各界广泛接触，这里他明显是指周三他将访问艾奥瓦州的马斯卡廷市，在那里他将同1985年访美时款待他的一家人重聚。
周二晚些时候在同中美企业家会面时，习近平引用了一首中国流行歌曲的歌词，以及16世纪英国哲学家弗朗西斯•培根(Francis Bacon)和19世纪美国社会主义作家爱德华•贝拉米(Edward Bellamy)的名言。
习近平还说，他听取了过去四十年里为构建中美双边关系发挥过重要作用的多位美国前高级官员的意见。他说这些人给他提供了“值得思考的东西”。
这里习近平指的是周一抵达美国之后同美国前国务卿基辛格(Henry Kissinger)和奥尔布赖特(Madeleine Albright)、美国前总统国家安全事务助理布热津斯基(Zbigniew Brzezinski)、斯考克罗夫特(Brent Scowcroft)和伯杰(Sandy Berger)以及美国前财长鲍尔森(Henry Paulson)的会面。
中国国家副主席习近平于本周访问美国。在一年前，习近平的访美计划宣布时，人们对他还知之甚少。随着外界预计他将于今年晚些时候成为中国下一任最高领导人，各国开始试图加深对他的了解。《华尔街日报》驻北京记者Josh Chin与Jeremy Page报道。
中美两国的国内政治对会面双方都有影响。奥巴马已经受到共和党人的抨击，后者称在解决人民币汇率问题以及美国对华贸易逆差方面，奥巴马做的还不够。这可能至少一定程度上解释了美国有关方面为何一再公开保证说，奥巴马和拜登在与习近平会谈时确实强调了美方在上述问题上的立场。
习近平在会谈中则不忘表达对中国现任国家主席胡锦涛的尊敬。
华盛顿的外交政策智库战略和国际事务中心(Center for Strategic and International Affairs)中国问题专家葛来仪(Bonnie S. Glaser)周二出席了拜登招待习近平的午宴。她说，拜登在会上的讲话令她震惊。葛来仪说，我觉得他明确强调了双方存在分歧的领域。
但葛来仪说，她从白宫官员那里得知，拜登和习近平的私人会晤是建设性的，这一定程度上是因为两人已经相互熟悉。去年8月拜登访华时两人共处了大约10个小时。
葛来仪还说，虽然她已经听说习近平的个人风格与胡锦涛相比更少拘束，但从周二的公开露面中她还看不出这一点。她说观察习近平在艾奥瓦州的表现将让美国更清楚地了解他到底是一个什么样的人。
拜登和奥巴马都提及艾奥瓦州在美国政治体系中的重要性。拜登还开玩笑说，如果习近平早点到访那里，他可能来得及参加共和党总统候选人的提名争夺战。
奥巴马也提到习近平周五到访洛杉矶时可能会观看一场NBA比赛。如果成行，习近平将成为首位观看NBA比赛的中国领导人。
Laura Meckler / Jeremy Page
（更新完成）
（本文版权归道琼斯公司所有，未经许可不得翻译或转载。）
Xi Jinping, China's expected next leader, began a week of wooing America Tuesday as he met with President Barack Obama for the first time, kicking off a visit that could shape the bilateral relationship for a decade to come.
But even as Mr. Obama and Vice President Joe Biden sought to strike a rapport with China's heir apparent, they pressed him publicly and, aides said, privately on many of the issues bedeviling relations between the world's two largest economies, especially trade and human rights.
Vice President Xi's delegation of about 200 people was also greeted by hundreds of protesters, including Tibetan and ethnic Uighur activists, Chinese democracy campaigners, and members of the Falun Gong spiritual movement, which is banned in China.
(This story and related background material will be available on The Wall Street Journal website, WSJ.com.)
U.S. officials see Mr. Xi's trip as a rare opportunity for officials, lawmakers and business leaders to get to know the man who is expected to be promoted to Communist Party chief--the nation's top job--in a once-a-decade leadership change in October or November.
For China, the priority is to establish Mr. Xi's image at home and overseas as a future world leader capable of handling relations with the U.S. Neither side, however, is willing to be seen giving ground on the major disputes between them in a year of political transition.
Nonetheless, they did announce several agreements, including a commitment from China to open its auto insurance market to foreign investors--a significant step towards meeting U.S. demands for greater access to the Chinese financial services market.
They also agreed to open talks on setting guidelines for export-credit financing, an area where Beijing's aggressive practices have raised U.S. concerns, 'with the goal of concluding an agreement by 2014.'
U.S. officials said they recognized that, as the vice president, Mr Xi could not make too many concessions for fear of upstaging the incumbent, or appearing weak. But the administration wanted to make sure that he will leave Washington with a strong appreciation for the American point of view.
At the start of his meeting with Mr. Xi, Mr. Obama repeated that the U.S. welcomes a rising China but said, 'With expanding power and prosperity also comes increased responsibilities.' He said China must play by the 'rules of the road' on economic matters and, on human rights, recognize 'the aspirations and rights of all people.'
In remarks at a luncheon in Mr. Xi's honor, Mr. Biden was more direct, speaking at length about U.S. concerns on issues including intellectual property rights, currency policy and forced technology transfers, as well as China's veto of a United Nations Security Council resolution condemning the brutal Syria crackdown.
Later, the White House said that Mr. Obama's session with Mr. Xi has been cordial and business-like. An administration official said Mr. Obama told Mr. Xi that the yuan was undervalued and pressed him for more progress in rebalancing China's economy to stimulate demand for imports, not just exports. The pair also discussed North Korea, and Mr. Obama expressed appreciation for China's role in enforcing sanctions against Iran. Mr. Obama expressed U.S. disappointment with China's veto of the Syrian resolution, as well as the importance of human rights, the official said.
Still, both sides went out of their way to emphasize the value they place in the relationship.
'While the United States and China ... will not always see eye to eye... it is a sign of the strength and maturity of our relationship that we can be candid about our differences as we have been,' Mr. Biden said.
Mr. Xi said he hoped the day of meetings would 'strengthen consensus' between the two countries and 'deepen our friendship.'
In Beijing, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao defended Beijing's handling of the crisis in Syria, saying China was working to prevent the spread of violence in Syria.
'China does not seek to protect any party, including the Syrian government,' he added.
Outside the White House, Tibetan activists for a second day protested Chinese policies in Tibet, which they blame for a series of self-immolations by ethnic Tibetans over the last year.
Chinese Embassy officials were not available to comment about Mr Xi's meetings, or the protests.
At the end of his nearly hour-and-a-half Oval Office session, Mr. Xi invited Mr. Obama and first lady Michelle Obama to visit China. The White House did not say whether the Obamas would go. A trip this year, in the midst of his re-election campaign, would be politically and logistically difficult, but it could happen if Mr. Obama won re-election. Mr. Xi also said he supported an exchange of visits by the two countries' defense ministers during talks at the Pentagon, where he was given a formal welcome with military honors--a first for a visiting vice president. On a day marked by choreographed speeches and meetings, Mr. Xi largely stuck to his script, defending China's policies while declaring his interest in working closely with the U.S.
There were few candid moments, though observers said Mr. Xi appeared more confident and at ease than the man he is slated to succeed, Chinese President Hu Jintao.
He pledged, for example, to interact with a 'broad cross section of American society--a clear reference to his visit to Muscatine, Iowa, on Wednesday for a reunion with a family he stayed with there on a visit in 1985.
He quoted from a Chinese pop song at one point, and from Francis Bacon, the 16th-century British philosopher, and Edward Bellamy, the 19th-century American socialist author, later in the day at a meeting with Chinese and U.S. CEOs.
He also said he had sought the advice of former senior U.S. officials who had played key roles in building bilateral ties over the last four decades. They had given him 'food for thought,' he said.
That was a reference to his meeting, soon after arrival Monday, with former Secretaries of State Henry Kissinger and Madeleine Albright, former national-security advisers Zbigniew Brzezinski, Brent Scowcroft and Sandy Berger, and former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson.
Domestic politics were at work on both sides. Mr. Obama is already under attack from Republicans who say he has not done enough to address Beijing's currency policy and the U.S. trade deficit with China. That might explain, at least in part, the repeated public assurances that Messrs. Obama and Biden had indeed pressed the point with Mr. Xi.
And Mr. Xi was careful to pay homage to Mr. Hu, who is still the president.
Bonnie S. Glaser, an expert on China at the Center for Strategic and International Affairs who attended Tuesday's lunch, said she was struck by Mr. Biden's comments. 'I felt that he definitely highlighted the areas of disagreement,' she said.
But she said she was told by White House officials that the private meeting between Messrs. Biden and Xi was constructive, partly because they were already comfortable with one another, having spent some 10 hours together in China last August.
She added that while she has heard that Mr. Xi has a more relaxed style than Mr. Hu, she had trouble discerning it in his public appearances Tuesday. 'Watching him in Iowa will give us a lot better sense to what he is as a person,' she said.
Both Mr. Biden and Mr. Obama made reference to Iowa's significance in the U.S. political system, with Mr. Biden joking that were Mr. Xi to have arrived there a bit earlier, he might have contended for the Republican presidential nomination.
Mr. Obama also mentioned that Mr. Xi might watch an NBA game in Los Angeles on Friday--another potential first for a Chinese leader.
Laura Meckler / Jeremy Page
But even as Mr. Obama and Vice President Joe Biden sought to strike a rapport with China's heir apparent, they pressed him publicly and, aides said, privately on many of the issues bedeviling relations between the world's two largest economies, especially trade and human rights.
Vice President Xi's delegation of about 200 people was also greeted by hundreds of protesters, including Tibetan and ethnic Uighur activists, Chinese democracy campaigners, and members of the Falun Gong spiritual movement, which is banned in China.
(This story and related background material will be available on The Wall Street Journal website, WSJ.com.)
U.S. officials see Mr. Xi's trip as a rare opportunity for officials, lawmakers and business leaders to get to know the man who is expected to be promoted to Communist Party chief--the nation's top job--in a once-a-decade leadership change in October or November.
For China, the priority is to establish Mr. Xi's image at home and overseas as a future world leader capable of handling relations with the U.S. Neither side, however, is willing to be seen giving ground on the major disputes between them in a year of political transition.
Nonetheless, they did announce several agreements, including a commitment from China to open its auto insurance market to foreign investors--a significant step towards meeting U.S. demands for greater access to the Chinese financial services market.
They also agreed to open talks on setting guidelines for export-credit financing, an area where Beijing's aggressive practices have raised U.S. concerns, 'with the goal of concluding an agreement by 2014.'
U.S. officials said they recognized that, as the vice president, Mr Xi could not make too many concessions for fear of upstaging the incumbent, or appearing weak. But the administration wanted to make sure that he will leave Washington with a strong appreciation for the American point of view.
At the start of his meeting with Mr. Xi, Mr. Obama repeated that the U.S. welcomes a rising China but said, 'With expanding power and prosperity also comes increased responsibilities.' He said China must play by the 'rules of the road' on economic matters and, on human rights, recognize 'the aspirations and rights of all people.'
In remarks at a luncheon in Mr. Xi's honor, Mr. Biden was more direct, speaking at length about U.S. concerns on issues including intellectual property rights, currency policy and forced technology transfers, as well as China's veto of a United Nations Security Council resolution condemning the brutal Syria crackdown.
Later, the White House said that Mr. Obama's session with Mr. Xi has been cordial and business-like. An administration official said Mr. Obama told Mr. Xi that the yuan was undervalued and pressed him for more progress in rebalancing China's economy to stimulate demand for imports, not just exports. The pair also discussed North Korea, and Mr. Obama expressed appreciation for China's role in enforcing sanctions against Iran. Mr. Obama expressed U.S. disappointment with China's veto of the Syrian resolution, as well as the importance of human rights, the official said.
Still, both sides went out of their way to emphasize the value they place in the relationship.
'While the United States and China ... will not always see eye to eye... it is a sign of the strength and maturity of our relationship that we can be candid about our differences as we have been,' Mr. Biden said.
Mr. Xi said he hoped the day of meetings would 'strengthen consensus' between the two countries and 'deepen our friendship.'
In Beijing, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao defended Beijing's handling of the crisis in Syria, saying China was working to prevent the spread of violence in Syria.
'China does not seek to protect any party, including the Syrian government,' he added.
Outside the White House, Tibetan activists for a second day protested Chinese policies in Tibet, which they blame for a series of self-immolations by ethnic Tibetans over the last year.
Chinese Embassy officials were not available to comment about Mr Xi's meetings, or the protests.
At the end of his nearly hour-and-a-half Oval Office session, Mr. Xi invited Mr. Obama and first lady Michelle Obama to visit China. The White House did not say whether the Obamas would go. A trip this year, in the midst of his re-election campaign, would be politically and logistically difficult, but it could happen if Mr. Obama won re-election. Mr. Xi also said he supported an exchange of visits by the two countries' defense ministers during talks at the Pentagon, where he was given a formal welcome with military honors--a first for a visiting vice president. On a day marked by choreographed speeches and meetings, Mr. Xi largely stuck to his script, defending China's policies while declaring his interest in working closely with the U.S.
There were few candid moments, though observers said Mr. Xi appeared more confident and at ease than the man he is slated to succeed, Chinese President Hu Jintao.
He pledged, for example, to interact with a 'broad cross section of American society--a clear reference to his visit to Muscatine, Iowa, on Wednesday for a reunion with a family he stayed with there on a visit in 1985.
He quoted from a Chinese pop song at one point, and from Francis Bacon, the 16th-century British philosopher, and Edward Bellamy, the 19th-century American socialist author, later in the day at a meeting with Chinese and U.S. CEOs.
He also said he had sought the advice of former senior U.S. officials who had played key roles in building bilateral ties over the last four decades. They had given him 'food for thought,' he said.
That was a reference to his meeting, soon after arrival Monday, with former Secretaries of State Henry Kissinger and Madeleine Albright, former national-security advisers Zbigniew Brzezinski, Brent Scowcroft and Sandy Berger, and former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson.
Domestic politics were at work on both sides. Mr. Obama is already under attack from Republicans who say he has not done enough to address Beijing's currency policy and the U.S. trade deficit with China. That might explain, at least in part, the repeated public assurances that Messrs. Obama and Biden had indeed pressed the point with Mr. Xi.
And Mr. Xi was careful to pay homage to Mr. Hu, who is still the president.
Bonnie S. Glaser, an expert on China at the Center for Strategic and International Affairs who attended Tuesday's lunch, said she was struck by Mr. Biden's comments. 'I felt that he definitely highlighted the areas of disagreement,' she said.
But she said she was told by White House officials that the private meeting between Messrs. Biden and Xi was constructive, partly because they were already comfortable with one another, having spent some 10 hours together in China last August.
She added that while she has heard that Mr. Xi has a more relaxed style than Mr. Hu, she had trouble discerning it in his public appearances Tuesday. 'Watching him in Iowa will give us a lot better sense to what he is as a person,' she said.
Both Mr. Biden and Mr. Obama made reference to Iowa's significance in the U.S. political system, with Mr. Biden joking that were Mr. Xi to have arrived there a bit earlier, he might have contended for the Republican presidential nomination.
Mr. Obama also mentioned that Mr. Xi might watch an NBA game in Los Angeles on Friday--another potential first for a Chinese leader.
Laura Meckler / Jeremy Page
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