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US President Barack Obama steps off Air Force One as he arrives at Pudong International Airport in Shanghai - Source: Reuters -
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US President Barack Obama will continue efforts to court China while cajoling it on economic and currency strains, with the final day of his visit featuring talks with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao.
Obama's first visit to China has been a mix of goodwill displays towards its sometimes wary people and leaders and closed-door discussions focused on the two big powers' vast and increasingly complex relationship.
Wednesday will be no different. Obama will visit the Great Wall - for Chinese people a proud symbol of their imperial heritage - and he may also press Wen, the head of the Chinese government, on touchy economic and diplomatic issues.
Obama made plain in a summit with President Hu Jintao on Tuesday that one of his top concerns was China's currency policy. Many in Washington and other capitals believe Beijing keeps the yuan too low in value, putting competitors at a disadvantage and distorting global economic flows.
Hu, who is also the head of China's Communist Party, did not mention the yuan or the dollar in his comments before reporters.
But Wen, who is more deeply involved in day-to-day economic affairs, may be more willing to grapple with Obama on currency and China's own gripes with US trade rules.
Officials and experts from both sides have stressed, however, that Obama's visit will not bring about immediate policy shifts.
"There will still be setbacks and even conflicts between China and the United States", says a commentary in the overseas edition of China's official People's Daily.
"It will take the constant efforts of one or two generations, perhaps several, to bring stable progress to relations."
Such summits are about setting priorities for future dealings, not making immediate policy changes, says Jin Canrong, an expert on China-US ties at Renmin University in Beijing.
"Any policy changes by China, including on the exchange rate, will be based on its assessment of its own interests, not on external pressure," says Jin.
The issue of currencies has drawn testy comments from US and Chinese officials. China's Commerce Ministry on Monday rebuffed calls for the yuan to appreciate, signalling resistance to change foreign exchange policy.
Outside pressure has been building on Beijing to let the yuan rise after more than a year of it being nearly frozen in place against the dollar, with the latest appeal voiced by the head of the International Monetary Fund on Tuesday.
But Obama and Hu have said that strains over trade and US criticism of China's human rights restrictions should not overshadow cooperation.
Even small details have reinforced that message.
At their state dinner on Tuesday night, the selection of music played by a People's Liberation Army band included the pop songs, "We are the world" and "I just called to say I love you".
Obama's talks with Wen may also cover Iran and North Korea, both nuclear trouble-spots where Washington and Beijing say they want to work together, but often disagree on how much pressure to apply. Wen visited North Korea early last month.
Wen may also have his own economic warning for Obama.
In March, he took Washington to task over its fiscal and financial policies, saying he worried over the health of China's vast US assets.
China has amassed $2.27 trillion of foreign exchange reserves, the world's largest stockpile, and analysts think about two-thirds of this is invested in dollar-denominated assets.
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