Paulson Arrives for Trade Talks with China

United States Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson arrived in Xining in northwest China last night, kicking off a four-day visit to China.

He is due to visit local environmental protection programs in Qinghai Province, home to Qinghai Lake, the largest salt water lake in China.

He will also visit rural households in the remote province on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, dubbed the "roof of the world."

Collaborating on energy and environmental challenges is one of the key focuses of the US-China Strategic Economic Dialogue launched by US President George W. Bush and Chinese President Hu Jintao last year.

Paulson will also hold talks with President Hu over tensions arising from China's swollen trade surplus and other issues. The secretary also is to meet Vice Premier Wu Yi, who leads the Chinese side of the dialogue.

The last formal meeting of the economic dialogue in May ended with no progress.

Since then, China has announced measures to rein in surging export growth. It repealed rebates of value-added taxes on more than 2,000 types of goods ranging from cement to plastic products in June.

Last week, the government said it would limit the growth of its "processing trade," a big but low-profit segment of the economy that imports components and exports finished goods.