Hu at Bill's gates

Hu Jintao recently said Taiwan's independence advocates a danger to regional peace. It is an issue that will definitely crop up in talks with President Bush.

The US, on the other hand, is pledged to defend Taiwan. Also high on President Bush's agenda is Chinese support for America's position, designed to stop North Korea and Iran's nuclear programmes. Will there be progress on these fronts? The people of both countries wait to find out.

Image: President Hu Jintao and wife Liu Yongqing wave to well-wishers before their departure from Boeing's Commercial Airplane facility in Everett, Washington, on Wednesday.

Photograph: Jim Bryant/AFP/Getty Images

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