China’s Xi Jinping: Can He Change Sino-U.S. Equations?

Xi Jinping, the Vice President of the Communist Party of China, is on a state visit to the U.S. and met Barack Obama on Tuesday.

The high profile visit to the White House is mainly seen in political circles as a rapport-building exercise to bridge the "trust deficit" between the two nations. Even Jinping has called for a deeper strategic trust during his meeting with the business leaders on the second day of his visit.

Now the lingering question would be whether Xi Jinping's Valentine's Day visit to the U.S. helps in drawing a new road map in the Sino-U.S. relations.

China and the U.S. have myriad issues on which both continue to differ.

Some of the major issues between the two nations are:

• Iran's nuclear programme.
• China's currency policy
• China's opposition to Arab League proposal in Syria
• Trade disputes
• Investment opportunities for the US firms in China
• Role of the U.S. in South China Sea
• Chinese intervention in Tibet and the allegations of human rights violations

• China's stand on North Korea

Jinping was welcomed by the U.S. Vice-President Joe Biden and the latter expressed his hope that the two nations should work together to settle the major economic and political concerns.

"We're not always going to see eye to eye. But we have very important economic and political concerns that warrant we work together," Reuters has quoted Biden as telling Xi during their meeting.

Jinping also spoke about strengthening the communication channels and more cooperation at the military level between the two countries during an event hosted by the U.S.-China Business Council and the National Council on U.S.-China Relations on Wednesday.

The 58-year-old Xi Jinping would be taking over as the president of the Chinese Communist Party later in 2012 and is expected to become the president of the country by 2013.

However, any hope of sudden change in the relations between the two strategic rivals would be too ambitious, considering the nature of domestic and national pressures of both the countries.