BEIJING (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama held much-anticipated talks with his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao on Tuesday, with trade friction, the yuan currency and diplomatic headaches such as Iran and North Korea high on the agenda.
Obama is expected to prod Hu on the value of the yuan, following days of testy exchanges between U.S. and Chinese officials over a currency that Washington says stokes global economic imbalances because it is heavily undervalued.
Chinese officials have shown little patience for the criticism, and they have instead accused Washington of trade protectionist impulses and lax fiscal policies.
"We believe strong dialogue is important not only for the U.S. and China but for the rest of the world," Obama told Hu at the start of their meeting in the Great Hall of the People, before reporters were ushered out.
A few thousand Chinese had earlier gathered in Beijing's central Tiananmen Square on a bright cold day to watch Obama's motorcade pass. His convoy slowed as it drove past a giant portrait of Mao Zedong, founder of Communist China.
Obama has stuck to a careful diplomatic line since arriving in China on Sunday night, underscoring Beijing's growing power and its importance as Washington's biggest foreign creditor.
"Bilateral relations are regarded as more equal than before," said a headline in the Global Times, a popular tabloid published by the People's Daily, the Communist Party's main newspaper.
Chinese media have avoided fawning over Obama, in contrast to the effusive receptions he has received in Europe. Several websites deleted comments championing Internet freedom that he made at a town hall talk with students in Shanghai on Monday.
Obama and Hu have a crowded agenda, underscoring the breadth and complexity of ties between their countries, respectively the world's biggest and third biggest economies.
They will make statements to the media at 12.15 p.m. (0415 GMT) but will take no questions.
Trade ties have surged since China opened up to the world and introduced market reforms in the late 1970s after decades of virtual isolation under Mao.
But that has sparked tensions because of a huge surplus in China's favor. Chinese exports to the United States were $337.8 billion in 2008 compared to U.S. exports to China of $69.7 billion.
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Beyond the economic linkages, Washington and Beijing are key players in frustrated efforts to end North Korea's nuclear weapons program, and Obama will be looking for more support from China to press Iran over its nuclear activities.
Obama has cast his visit as an effort to win trust from a government and a public often wary of U.S. intentions toward the rising Asian superpower and world's third biggest economy.
"I'm hopeful that in my meetings with President Hu ... both the United States and China can work together to try to reduce conflicts that are taking place," he said.
But Obama also made a call for greater freedom of expression, a touchy issue in a country frequently criticized in Washington for trampling on issues like religious rights.
"These freedoms of expression and worship of access to information and political participation, we believe are universal rights, they should be available to all people including ethnic and religious minorities," he said.
(Writing by Ben Blanchard; Editing by David Fox)
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