Focus on economy:

US, China try to defuse tension

US: US President Barack Obama invited Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi to the White House on Thursday after both powers tried to defuse military tensions and focus on stabilizing the global economy.

With China also angry at US criticism over Tibet, Obama is making the gesture to meet the foreign minister following his talks Wednesday with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner.

It comes after Clinton said she and Yang agreed to ensure there would be no repeat of a standoff on Sunday between a US Navy surveillance ship and Chinese patrol boats in the South China Sea.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters than Yang and Obama — joined by US national security advisor James Jones — would discuss the standoff among other issues such as the global economic crisis.

“I don’t think it will overshadow it, but I think the president will continue to make clear our country’s position,” Gibbs told reporters.

With only a few weeks in office, Obama’s meeting with Yang is symbolic — something which is not standard protocol but has been used sparingly by previous presidents. Yang also met former president George W. Bush.

Yang came here to work with Clinton and Geithner to prepare for the G20 summit of industrial and developing nations next month in London, where Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao are to meet for the first time.

The summit is tasked with divising ways to solve the international credit crunch.

After her talks with Yang, Clinton said the two powers share “responsibility to help ensure the summit” produces concrete “steps toward a coordinated global response to stabilize the world economy and to begin a recovery.”

In her February 21-22 visit to Beijing for talks with Yang, Hu and others, Clinton called for a deeper partnership between the United States and China, saying they needed to unite to tackle the economic crisis and climate change.

State Department spokesman Robert Wood said earlier that the two sides would not let disputes distract from common goals.

Washington, Thursday, AFP