Obama to meet with Chinese Foreign Minister

Obama to meet with Chinese Foreign Minister

Washington (PTI): In an effort to defuse the increasing tension between US and China, American President Barack Obama on Thursday invited visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi to the White House.

The latest round of tension between the two countries is on the standoff over an American ship in South China Sea and Beijing's anger over US's recent statements on Tibet. A meeting with Obama was not on the original schedule of Mr. Yang, who is on a three-day official visit to the US.

"The President looks forward to discussing issues of mutual concern with the Chinese Foreign Minister, including our global economic crisis and the incident involving the boats of the two countries will be on that list for discussion," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said.

Mr. Gibbs said the naval confrontation will not overshadow the meeting. "But I think the President will continue to make clear our country's position," he said. "I would probably put that under the global economic crisis and a number of other issues that will be on the agenda that the President looks forward to talking to the Foreign Minister about," he said.

Earlier in the day, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, after her meeting with Mr. Yang, said she raised US's concerns about the recent incident involving the American Navy ship "Impeccable" and the Chinese vessels in the South China Sea.