Hu at Bill's gates

This is an important trip for both, America and China. The Hu Jintao-George Bush summit on Thursday, the highlight of Hu’s 4-day visit to the US, will cover everything from China's trade policies to its belligerent search for oil, concerns about human rights and religious freedom.

More importantly, however, the Chinese leader will work on buttressing his country's image. His meetings with Bill Gates and other business leaders in Seattle, for instance, will go a long way towards making clear what China's intentions really are.

Hu arrived in Seattle on Tuesday and toured the Microsoft campus before a dinner at Gates's lakeside mansion with about 100 guests, including former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.

Image: Chinese President Hu Jintao (right) listens to Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates at Microsoft headquarters in Redmond. Hu spent about an hour viewing some of the new technologies being developed for future homes.

Photograph: Andy Clark/AFP/Getty Images

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