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Mainland sees 'working visit' as building trust

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While there was no breakthrough in talks on sensitive issues such as arms proliferation or Taiwan, mainland officials said the summit had achieved 'expected results'.

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'Bush's visit is a working trip and Chinese authorities did not have high expectations of the trip. A step forward in mutual trust between both leaders should already be considered a positive result of the summit,' a Foreign Ministry official said.

'The fact that President Jiang and Vice-President Hu Jintao were separately invited to visit the US to 'intensify high-level strategic dialogue' later this year and the two have accepted is significant, as these are positive signs showing that senior leaders on both sides are building up mutual trust and contacts,' said Professor Jin Canrong, of the American Research Institute at Beijing's China Academy of Social Sciences.

'Since there are forces in both China and the US trying to interfere with the development of Sino-US ties, such personal trips to the US or to China are important' to ensure that each side does not wrongly judge the other, he said.

Sino-US relations had a rocky start in the first few months of Mr Bush's presidency, with first the spy plane row last April and then Mr Bush's vow to do 'whatever it takes' to defend Taiwan. But Professor Jin said Mr Bush was regarded as a friend making mistakes rather than as an enemy - partly because of Mr Jiang's personal ties with Mr Bush's father.

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President Bush arrived in Beijing exactly 30 years after a bridge-building visit by late president Richard Nixon.

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