China’s Hu visits Boeing plant

By Daisuke Wakabayashi and Scott Hillis

EVERETT, Washington (Reuters) – Chinese President Hu Jintao
toured a Boeing Co. aircraft plant on Wednesday, on the eve of
a summit with President Bush, where he will be pressed to cut
China’s trade surplus with the United States.

On the second day of a four-day visit to the United States,
Hu was to tour three Boeing assembly lines and be briefed on
the new Boeing 787 jet currently under development which the
company touts as its “super-efficient airliner.”

China recently signed a deal with the company to buy 80 737
jets worth about $4 billion.

Hu was then scheduled to address several thousand Boeing
workers at the plant near Seattle, and deliver what his aides
said would be an important policy speech, before flying to
Washington D.C. for his White House meeting with Bush on
Thursday.

Hu dined with about 100 U.S. political and corporate
leaders on Tuesday night at the home of Bill Gates, whose
Microsoft Corp. has been a major victim of Chinese software
piracy. In a meeting earlier with Gates, Hu reiterated China
would move against software pirates.

U.S. industry groups estimate 90 percent of DVDs, music CDs
and software sold in China are pirated. The
intellectual-property issue is also expected to be on the
agenda when Hu meets Bush, as part of the discussion on China’s
$202 billion 2005 trade surplus with the United States.

In his dinner remarks, Hu stressed the expanding
relationship between China and the United States.

“Today, many cargo ships are very busy crossing the Pacific
Ocean, laden with the rich fruit of our strong trade ties and
friendship between our two peoples,” Hu said.

“I am sure that with the further deepening of China’s
reform and opening up, we are going to see an even broader
prospect for the economic cooperation and trade between China
and Washington state and China and the United States as a
whole.”

China sought to quell U.S. trade complaints before Hu’s
visit by signing contracts worth $16.2 billion while Vice
Premier Wu Yi visited the United States last week.

U.S. officials have complained that China is moving too
slowly to revalue its currency, the yuan, which they see as
badly undervalued, making Chinese exports artificially cheap.

Bush has also said he would bring up Iran’s nuclear
program. He wants China to cooperate in putting more pressure
on Tehran through the U.N. Security Council.

A Chinese spokesman told reporters on Tuesday, “We hope
that we will continue to work toward a peaceful resolution of
the Iran issue.”

Hu said on Tuesday that China and the United States “share
common strategic interests in a wide range of areas,
particularly in maintaining world peace, promoting global
economic growth, combating terrorism and preventing the
proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.”