Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. 24/7 Space News .




SUPERPOWERS
Obama, Xi stir intrigue with desert oasis summit
by Staff Writers
Washington (AFP) June 5, 2013


XI MEETS OBAMA. In this file photo, US President Barack Obama shakes hands with then-Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping during meetings in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, February 14, 2012. File photo by Saul Loeb/AFP

US inventor allowed out by China ahead of summit
Beijing (AFP) June 05, 2013 - A US inventor who was prevented from leaving China for nearly five years in a row over trade secrets has been allowed home, Beijing said Wednesday, ahead of a presidential summit between the two powers.

Hu Zhicheng, a Chinese-born US national, arrived in California on Monday evening, reports in the US say.

The inventor, who spent 17 months in prison and was released three years ago after charges were dropped, had an emotional reunion with his family after legal restrictions on him leaving China were lifted.

"What I can confirm is that the restriction measures taken by the Chinese judicial authorities against him leaving the country has been revoked according to law," China's foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei said.

Hu, one of the world's leading experts in catalytic converters, was accused of stealing information relating to automobile emission control technology.

During his time in custody he was held in a group cell in a detention centre in the northern coastal city of Tianjin.

After being released, Hu said that airport border control agents blocked his exit when he tried to leave China.

US President Barack Obama will meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Friday and Saturday in California.

An unusual sense of anticipation is building ahead of US President Barack Obama's first summit with new Chinese President Xi Jinping, at a secluded and storied California retreat.

Now that the anti-China fury of the US campaign season has stilled, and Xi has completed the complicated power dance involved in taking China's top state positions, the talks represent a new beginning of sorts in Sino-US statecraft.

Ditching the crushing formality of US-China summits, Xi and Obama will meet Friday and Saturday at the Annenberg retreat on Bob Hope Drive in Rancho Mirage, California, a playground of past presidents and the powerful.

The meeting in the desert oasis will focus on testy issues between Washington and Beijing -- great power rivalry, claims of cyber spying, trade and currency disputes and North Korea's dangerous nuclear poker.

Both sides appear to hope that Xi and Obama will, amid the estate's olive trees and monarch butterflies, forge a personal bond of trust.

China watchers in Washington have been impressed that Xi, so soon after taking power, is eschewing the pageantry of a state visit, taking it as a sign of confidence from both the new Chinese leader and his nation.

"Part of the big story here is that (Xi) was willing to have a meeting in Washington, not a state visit, no 21-gun salute, no White House welcoming ceremony, no state dinner," said Jeff Bader, Obama's former top East Asia aide.

Chinese leaders previously felt that such protocol was important to showing they were respected abroad, said Bader, now with the Brookings Institution.

Had Obama and Xi not met now, they likely would have waited until September's G20 summit in Russia to cross paths -- a delay both sides appeared to worry would leave uncertainty festering too long.

Obama aides have privately confessed their boss's frustration with the scripted encounters he suffered with former Chinese president Hu Jintao.

They hope Xi, who one described as "fast on his feet," will relish a more unscripted exchange, and believe his familiarity with America, after a visit to Iowa 30 years ago with a Chinese farming delegation, could help.

It is unclear, though, whether the summit will feature an iconic moment to rival former Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping grinning out from under a cowboy hat or Jiang Zemin at George W. Bush's ranch.

Despite the high hopes, and partly due to the swiftly organized program, the White House is predicting no breakthroughs.

But Elizabeth Economy, a China scholar at the Council on Foreign Relations, said the summit could still score.

"President Obama and President Xi could discover some personal chemistry. They could find themselves personally in sync," she said.

US officials want to know more about Xi's vision for "great power" relations, as China's rise brings the risk of a clash with the American superpower.

"The focus is to avoid this so-called historic inevitability of conflict between the two," one US official said.

Joe Yun, acting assistant secretary of state for East Asia, said Washington was "trying to put flesh" on Xi's strategic ideas.

"When we talk about a new type of relationship, for us it means a more cooperative relationship. It means there would be understanding, cooperation and that we work together -- not just in the region, but outside."

Obama visited China in 2009, and granted Hu a state visit in 2011.

But progress was fleeting in his first term, as China chafed at the implications of Obama's diplomatic and military pivot to Asia.

On Friday, Obama and Xi will have informal chats, a bilateral meeting, including questions from reporters, and a private dinner. A morning of talks follows Saturday.

Blunt exchanges are expected on cyber security, following a string of reports that China-based operations are stealing US military and commercial secrets.

North Korea will also come up, with US officials encouraged China is becoming impatient with Pyongyang's saber rattling.

Obama is under pressure to tackle what US business leaders complain are China's predatory economic policies and the theft of US intellectual property.

"There is a myth out there that we can't get more aggressive with China because China holds the cards in this relationship," said Scott Paul, president of the Alliance for American Manufacturing.

"If you look on balance as to who holds the cards, it's us and we just haven't been willing to play them."

.


Related Links
Learn about the Superpowers of the 21st Century at SpaceWar.com
Learn about nuclear weapons doctrine and defense at SpaceWar.com






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle








SUPERPOWERS
Rising China propels Xi into Obama summit: analysts
Beijing (AFP) June 06, 2013
Smiling benignly as he strolls among schoolchildren or nods to sailors on the deck of a warship, President Xi Jinping epitomises China's new-found confidence as he heads into his first summit with Barack Obama. The US president leads the only country that outshines China in global power and influence, and which Beijing clearly sees as its single most important relationship - and major rival ... read more


SUPERPOWERS
NASA's GRAIL Mission Solves Mystery of Moon's Surface Gravity

Moon dust samples missing for 40 years found in Calif. warehouse

Unusual minerals in moon craters may have been delivered from space

Moon being pushed away from Earth faster than ever

SUPERPOWERS
Curiosity Mars Rover Nears Turning Point

The Crowning Glory of Mars

Mars Curiosity Rover Provides Strong Evidence for Flowing Water

Ten Years At Mars: New Global Views Plot History Of The Red Planet

SUPERPOWERS
Peanut butter, pyjamas, parmesan launched into space

White House moves to curb 'patent trolls'

A certain level of stress is necessary

Northrop Grumman-Built Modular Space Vehicle Nears Completion of Manufacturing Phase

SUPERPOWERS
Crew Shuffles for Shenzhou 10

Shenzhou 10's Missing Parts

Shenzhou's Code of Silence

Shenzhou-10 spacecraft to be launched in mid-June

SUPERPOWERS
International trio takes shortcut to space station

Science and Maintenance for Station Crew, New Crew Members Prep for Launch

ESA Euronews: Living in space

Next destination: space

SUPERPOWERS
Europe launches record cargo for space station

New chief urges Ariane 5 modification for big satellites

The Future of Space Launch

Rocket Engine Maker Proton-PM to Invest in New Products

SUPERPOWERS
Stellar Winds May Electrify Exoplanets

Little Scope Discovers Metal-Poor Cousin of Famous Planet

Rare Stellar Alignment Offers Opportunity To Hunt For Planets

In feat, telescope directly spots lightweight exoplanet

SUPERPOWERS
To improve today's concrete, do as the Romans did

Magnetic monopoles erase data

Mind-controlled games on show at Asia's biggest IT fair

Atom by atom, bond by bond, a chemical reaction caught in the act




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement