China warns against US military presence

WASHINGTON

After visiting the US, Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping will stop in Ireland and Turkey before returning home. Xi is expected to meet US President Obama today. Reuters photo

China’s likely next leader Xi Jinping warned the United States against plans to boost its military strength in Asia as he prepared for a closely watched visit to Washington starting yesterday.
 
China’s vice president, who is tipped to rule the rising Asian power until 2023, called on the United States to prioritize economic growth and promised anew that Beijing would address foreign concerns about its currency’s value. In a written interview with The Washington Post, Xi said that the Pacific Ocean had “ample space” for both China and the U.S. but insisted that Asian countries were concerned foremost with “economic prosperity.”

“At a time when people long for peace, stability and development, to deliberately give prominence to the military security agenda, scale up military deployment and strengthen military alliances is not really what most countries in the region hope to see,” Xi said. “We welcome a constructive role by the United States in promoting peace, stability and prosperity in the region. We also hope that the United States will fully respect and accommodate the major interests and legitimate concerns of Asia-Pacific countries,” he said. Xi is due to meet with President Barack Obama and other top officials in Washington today.

He’ll make a stop in the midwestern state of Iowa tomorrow to meet local politicians and families with whom he stayed on a 1985 visit while serving as a low-ranking official. Xi finishes the U.S. leg of his visit in California for meetings with business leaders and will stop in Ireland and Turkey before returning home. He was scheduled to leave Beijing later yesterday.

Compiled from The Associated Press and Agence France-Presse by the Daily News staff.

USA,