US President George W. Bush will kick off his three-day visit to China on Saturday evening aimed at easing differences and promoting Sino-US relations.

This is Bush's third visit to China since 2001. During the visit, Chinese President Hu Jintao and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao are expected to hold talks and meet with Bush, discussing a wide range of issues.

"The two sides will have an in-depth exchange of views on China-US relations and major regional and international issues," said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao Thursday.

"We expect that Bush's visit, slated for Nov. 19 to 21, will increase consensus, step up mutual trust, expand exchanges and cooperation and promote Sino-US constructive and cooperative relations in the 21st century in an all-round way," Liu told a regular news briefing.

China is the third leg of Bush's four-nation Asian tour. He visited Japan and the Republic of Korea (ROK) and attended the Nov. 18-19 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Busan. He will also visit Mongolia after his China tour.

Bush described Sino-US relationship as a complex and important one. While the two countries have got increasing trade and dialogue and cooperation, there is still work to be done on intellectual property rights, currency and market access, said Bush in a round-table interview with Asian reporters at the White House prior to his Asian tour.

But Bush acknowledged that the United States and China "do have good cooperation" on trade, and can also work together in the war on terror, on advancing the Doha Round multilateral trade talks and in the areas of energy and fighting avian flu.

Bush's visit symbolic but still important

Anti-terrorism co-operation, nuclear stand-off on the Korean Peninsula and Iran, the Taiwan question, trade deficit, intellectual property rights protection, and bird flu.

The wide range of topics on the agenda during US President George W. Bush's visit to China shows that Washington and Beijing share more and more common interests, according to analysts.

This fact, they predict, will prompt Bush to sound a more positive note while outlining his administration's China policy in Beijing.

"The Bush visit is largely symbolic, but it will be of real significance to developing bilateral relations," said Li Xiaogang, a researcher with the Institute of American Studies under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

"It will help build the personal rapport between Bush and Hu, strengthen mutual trust at the highest level and stabilize the overall situation of Sino-US ties."

US Deputy Secretary of State Bob Zoellick made a keynote speech on China policy on September 21, stating the critical need for America to co-operate effectively with an emerging China to safeguard many common interests shared by the two powers.

Given China's growing economic and political influence around the globe, Zoellick asked China to be "a responsible stakeholder" to work with the US to sustain the international system.

"Zoellick's speech can be taken as a cornerstone for the Bush administration's China policy, which apparently takes a pragmatic and balanced approach towards China's peaceful rise," Li said.

He added that the Bush visit is tantamount to "a public show of his own endorsement of the policy of promoting constructive co-operation" with the world's biggest developing country and fastest-growing economy.

Noticeably, Bush, in a major speech on his Asia policy during his tour of Japan on Wednesday, dropped the words "strategic competitor" to describe China, a phrase he often used in the early days of his first term.

Li emphasized that such a policy shift signals Washington's recognition that it can foster co-operative relationship with China to jointly address various global challenges despite their vast differences.

Source: Xinhua/China Daily