Hillary says US wants to get China ties 'right'

Source: zeenews.com
29/10/2010

Honolulu: Washington is committed to getting relations "right" with China, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said ahead of talks next month between the US and Chinese presidents.

"The relationship between China and the United States is complex and of enormous consequence... but we are committed to getting it right," Clinton said yesterday

"There are some in both countries who believe that China's interests and ours are fundamentally at odds. They apply a zero-sum calculation to our relationship, so whenever one of us succeeds, the other must fail," Clinton said.

"But that is not our view. In the 21st century, it is not in anyone's interest for the United States and China to see each other as adversaries."

Clinton was in Honolulu for talks with Japanese Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara -- whose country is embroiled in a spat with China over a disputed island chain in the East China Sea -- at the start of a tour of the region.

In the gruelling two-week tour, Clinton's trip will include stops in Vietnam, China, Cambodia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, New Zealand, Australia and American Samoa.

The White House earlier announced President Barack Obama will meet Chinese President Hu Jintao in South Korea next month as Sino-US economic tensions flare and territorial rows fester between Beijing and its neighbours.

Announcing Obama's seventh bilateral talks with Hu, which they billed as a record for a US president in office for two years, White House officials also disputed suggestions that US-China relations were deteriorating.

Obama will meet Hu, in talks which will prepare the way for the Chinese leader's visit to the United States in January, in Seoul on November 11, ahead of the G20 economic summit, the White House said.

PTI