Low-key Xi-Obama meeting masks significance of talks
Informal summit is intended to create a comfortable atmosphere where Chinese and US leaders can discuss high-level issues more freely
When President Xi Jinping lands in the United States today, there will be no 21-gun salute or White House welcoming ceremony waiting for him.
Instead, he will spend two days in informal gatherings with US counterpart Barack Obama at Sunnylands in Rancho Mirage, California, previously visited by past US presidents and other powerful figures.
Major outcomes, or concessions from either side, are not expected, but the trip is still significant because the two leaders will share close moments together, setting the tone for the Sino-US relationship in the remaining decade of Xi's reign.
In addition to serious talks on various issues, the two presidents will reportedly eat breakfast together and stroll around the retreat, taking in its sweeping mountain views and lush golf course. Xi's wife, Peng Liyuan , will accompany him, but her US counterpart, Michelle Obama, will be absent.
Observers said the talks, after a tour by Xi to "America's backyard" that included visits to three Latin American and Caribbean nations, would be crucial for crisis management because of rising frictions between the two great powers given America's declared "pivot to Asia".
The first meeting between the two presidents since Xi succeeded Hu Jintao in March were originally scheduled for September, on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Russia, but both sides believed they should reach out to each other earlier.