China's Xi making visit to US

Chinese vice president Xi Jinping will visit the US this week for a crucial getting-acquainted visit aiming to strengthen trust between the sides before he takes over as leader of the world’s most populous nation.

Mr Xi is due to meet with President Barack Obama and other top officials in Washington tomorrow.

He will make a stop in the midwestern state of Iowa on Wednesday to meet local politicians and families with whom he stayed on a 1985 visit while serving as a local official in charge of the pork industry.

Mr Xi finishes the US leg of his visit in California for meetings with business leaders and will stop in Ireland and Turkey before returning home. He was scheduled to leave Beijing later today.

The US visit seeks to better acquaint politicians and opinion makers with the man widely expected to begin taking charge later this year of the world’s second largest economy and biggest overseas holder of US government debt.