Chinese President Hu Jintao touted deepening US-China ties as he prepared to tour a major US exporter on Wednesday before a White House summit expected to touch on trade frictions and Iran's nuclear programme.
Hu dined on Tuesday night with about 100 US political and corporate leaders 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.
US 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 at Hu's meeting on Thursday with President George W. Bush.
Attendees at Tuesday's dinner, hosted by Washington state Gov. Chris Gregoire at Gates' $100 million lakeside mansion, included executives from Boeing Co, a leading exporter, which Hu will visit on Wednesday. China recently signed a deal with the company to buy 80 737 jets worth about $4 billion.
In remarks at the dinner, 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 co-operation and trade between China and Washington state and China and the United States as a whole."
NUCLEAR DIPLOMACY: Bush said on Tuesday he would bring up Iran's nuclear programme at his White House lunch with Hu. The American president wants China to agree to putting more pressure on Tehran through the UN Security Council, something Beijing is resisting.
"I intend of course to bring the subject up of Iranian ambitions to have a nuclear weapon. We'll continue to work diplomatically to get this problem solved," Bush said. Iran says its program is just for nuclear energy.
Hu said at the dinner 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." After a private meeting with academics on Wednesday, Hu will tour the Boeing plant and speak to workers. He is then scheduled to attend a luncheon and make a speech, before flying to Washington.
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