Xi Jinping and Barack Obama unlikely to crack thorniest issues during Washington summit

It's unlikely President Xi Jinping and his American counterpart Barack Obama will reach any substantive agreements on the most contentious issues dividing their two nations, such as cybersecurity and increased tensions in the South China Sea during their summit next week, observers say.

Instead, the leaders were expected to announce deals in areas where there was less disagreement, such as climate change, military cooperation and non-proliferation of nuclear weapons, they said.

Xi arrives in Seattle on September 22, for the four-day state visit - his first to the United States in his capacity as president.

READ MORE: Everything you need to know about Xi's US visit

Obama is facing pressure at home both from presidential hopefuls and officials within his own administration to address concerns over China's alleged cyperespionage, including theft of intellectual property.

The two leaders were expected to agree to resume regular cybersecurity talks, by either reopening existing working groups China suspended last year after the US charged five PLA officers with hacking American companies, or through establishing new channels, observers said.

Jie Dalei, an assistant professor of international relations at Peking University, said Xi might agree to resume communication through the working groups if he wanted to produce results with the visit. "But I'm not expecting treaties [on cybersecurity] as the gap between the two countries is so wide," Jie said.

National Security Adviser Susan Rice met senior Chinese officials in Beijing on cybersecurity issues in late August. Immediately after her visit, Beijing sent security chief Meng Jianzhu as Xi's special envoy for four days of talks on the issue in Washington last week.