United states president, George Bush, has held talks with his chinese counterpart, Hu Jintao, in the Australian city of sydney.
Bush described the talks as friendly despite the fact they tackled thorny issues including religious freedom, climate change and exchange rates
Few details have emerged so far, but Bush said Hu was"" quite articulate" over the issue of product safety.This contentious topic was highlighted recently by a series of recalls of Chinese- made products.
Hu and Bush were meeting ahead of a summit of Asia-pacifiic leaders. While the officials leaders’meetings of the 21-nation Asia- pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) Forum are not due to take place untill the weekend, several bilateral discussions have already taken place on the sidelines.
Australian Prime Minister, John Howard, met Hu ealier on thursday, and the two countries agreed to hold annual security summits.
Bush began his day by meeting Australian opposition leader, Kevin Rudd.
Rudd is far ahead of Howard in opinion polls with a general election due later this year. He wants to withdraw Australian troopsfrom Iraq in contrast to Howard, who has been a staunch supproter of United States policy on Iraq
Bush acknowledged ahead of the meeting that the United States and China had a" ", complex relationship",and said he would be "damed sure" to raise cotentious matters during the bilateral talks.
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