陈立东 上海硅所:Cooperation Is Emphasized as Biden Opens Talk...

BEIJING — Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. on Thursday praised China’s rapid economic ascent while his Chinese counterpart emphasized cooperation between China and the United States as the two began talks that will focus on the global economy, trade and currency.

Mr. Biden arrived with Vice President Xi Jinping of China at 10:30 a.m. at the Great Hall of the People, on the west side of Tiananmen Square. Under blue skies made clear from a night of rain, the pair walked on a red carpet past an honor guard that first played “The Star Spangled Banner” and then the national anthem of the People’s Republic of China.

Both men walked into a meeting room at the Great Hall and exchanged opening remarks. Mr. Biden spoke nostalgically of his first visit to China in 1979 when he was a United States senator and visited the Great Wall. He said nothing had impressed him more than the economic changes in China in recent decades. Before Mr. Biden finished his remarks, foreign reporters were forcefully shoved out of the meeting room by security staff.

Mr. Xi praised Mr. Biden for his interest in China and said, “I believe from this new situation, China and the U.S. have ever more extensive common interests and shoulder ever more important common responsibilities.”

Mr. Biden arrived on Wednesday for the start of a four-day whirlwind trip to Beijing and the southwestern city of Chengdu, during which he will spend significant time with China’s presumed next leader, Mr. Xi, and defend the economic policies of the United States.

After two sessions with Mr. Xi, Mr. Biden went with his granddaughter Naomi and the new United States ambassador, Gary Locke, to a small restaurant north of Tiananmen Square that specializes in bowls of intestine for breakfast. The restaurant, tucked away behind the ancient building known as the Drum Tower, was crowded with Chinese patrons at lunchtime, many eating small pork buns and stir-fried vegetables. One yelled out “Beijing welcomes you!” in Mandarin Chinese and others shook hands with the vice president. A woman spoke to him about her relatives living in Minnesota.

Mr. Biden, on his first trip to China since becoming vice president, is touring the country at a time when Chinese officials and scholars are raising questions about the stability of Chinese investments in U.S. Treasury securities, given the recent debt-ceiling debate and near-default by the United States government. On Wednesday, the state-run newspaper Global Times ran an article about Mr. Biden’s trip under the headline “Biden Faces Tough Talks in China.”

Shepherding Mr. Biden through some of the meetings will be Mr. Locke, the new U.S. envoy and the former commerce secretary. Mr. Locke presented his credentials to President Hu Jintao on Tuesday to formally begin his posting.

Mr. Locke’s trip here caused a stir among many Chinese. The sensation began last week when a Chinese businessman posted a photograph on the Internet of Mr. Locke buying coffee and carrying a black backpack at a Starbucks cafe in the Seattle airport as Mr. Locke was en route to China with his family. The photo prompted Chinese to comment online that Mr. Locke exhibited a humility many Chinese officials lack.

That sense of humility, whether demonstrated by Mr. Locke or Mr. Biden, will be put to the test in coming days.

China has shown anxiety about the downgrade of the United States’ AAA credit rating by Standard & Poor’s and the potential effect on its investments. Yet it has joined other large investors in continuing to pour money into Treasury securities. The Treasury Department released statistics on Monday that showed that China increased its holdings of the securities in June by $5.7 billion, to $1.17 trillion. China is the largest foreign creditor of the United States.

On Monday, Lael Brainard, the undersecretary for international affairs at the Treasury Department, said in a conference call with reporters that “the economic side of the trip obviously is very important.” But she emphasized that Mr. Biden would be trying to promote his country’s economic interests, noting that United States exports to China had grown faster than exports to other parts of the world, surpassing $100 billion over the last year. Mr. Biden plans to press China to continue letting its currency appreciate. Many economists say the renminbi is undervalued, giving Chinese exports an enormous advantage in the global marketplace.

Chinese leaders look more at domestic pressures when setting currency policy. They are trying to find the right balance between keeping the value of the renminbi low, which allows for stronger exports and thus more jobs in the manufacturing sector, and allowing it to rise enough to help tamp down inflation.

The nuclear programs of North Korea and Iran — and China’s influence over those two countries — are also of concern to the White House and are expected to be discussed. Daniel Russel, senior director for Asian affairs on the National Security Council, said Mr. Biden would also raise the issue of human rights.

On Tibet, Mr. Biden is “expected to reinforce the message to the Chinese that there is great value in their renewing their dialogue with the representatives of the Dalai Lama, with the goal of peacefully resolving differences.”

President Obama met with the Tibetan spiritual leader in Washington in July, prompting relatively muted protests by Chinese officials.

For the Chinese, Taiwan is an equally sensitive issue, and Mr. Biden is not expected to bring up the contentious topic of United States arms sales there, though Chinese leaders will almost certainly raise objections to an upcoming round of sales.