Sino-US tension amid the Apec summit pomp

President Xi Jinping will welcome US President Barack Obama for his first trip to Beijing since 2009 with all the pomp of a state visit today. Fireworks will later open a summit of Asia-Pacific leaders.

In truth, the two presidents have little to celebrate over their two countries' often strained ties.

In the 18 months since Obama and Xi first met at California's Sunnylands resort, where they ate a meal by celebrity chef Bobby Flay and raised a toast of Chinese liquor, China and the US have confronted each other over Asian security issues, territorial claims, economic cyberespionage and US opposition to China's proposal for a new Asian infrastructure bank.

Beneath those issues lie larger questions of how the United States adjusts to a more prosperous and outward-looking China and whether China's rise bumps up against the United States and its allies in the Pacific or whether all nations will benefit. "How do we build a new model? That's the rub," one US official has previously said.

In the run-up to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, the deputy chief of the PLA general staff, Sun Jianguo, demanded the US drop charges against five Chinese military officials accused of computer hacking. The officials were indicted in May by the US Justice Department on charges of hacking and allegedly stealing trade secrets from US companies.

Despite the strains, officials on both sides are working to make this summit a success. Steps to slow climate change, a priority for Obama and Chinese alarmed by choking pollution, offer the most likely area for progress.