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SCMP Reporter

From a brief chat with retiring US Pacific commander Admiral Dennis Blair in Honolulu to a likely Oval Office meeting with President George W. Bush, Mr Hu's first trip to America is set to be a low-key, business-like affair.

Mr Hu, US analysts believe, wants to avoid any sort of protest or controversy ahead of his final push to replace President Jiang Zemin as China's top leader at the 16th Communist Party Congress scheduled for October.

The Bush team, meanwhile, also wants a smooth visit to impress Mr Hu without scuppering his succession.

There will be relatively few public events or clever photo stunts and certainly no formal agreements that mark more hefty summits.

Mr Hu may already be viewed in the US as the most important man in China yet diplomatic protocol dictates that this cannot be a full state visit laden with red carpets and banquets.

Instead, its climax will come behind closed doors in the White House as Mr Hu meets his host, Vice-President Dick Cheney, and Mr Bush himself.

Mr Bush met Mr Hu briefly during his trip to Beijing in February but had little chance to get beyond pleasantries.

'He doesn't yet have a feel for the man . . . and that is something that is very important to Mr Bush,' one White House official said.

'It will be successful from the US side if Mr Bush feels he can walk away confident that there is some room for mutual understanding there; that Mr Hu is a leader whom he can do business with. Personal, instinctive trust is very important to Mr Bush.'

The US side is likely to deliver a straight-forward message in formal talks, not wanting to cloud the trip with complex diplomacy or a sense of a deepening rift.

There is likely to be a pledge of US support for greater reform as part of China's entry to the World Trade Organisation, a reiteration of the claim that America does not want to contain China and a need for calm over Taiwan.

There will be no private round-tables with scholars, no ranch trips or photo opportunities at Disneyland - regular features of more relaxed diplomatic missions.



Each side has its reasons to keep trip as low-key as possible