WASHINGTON (AFP) — Deputy US Secretary of State John Negroponte is to visit China and Vietnam from January 16 to 20 for talks on a range of issues, the State Department said Thursday.
In China, the deputy to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will lead an inter agency delegation for the fifth round of bilateral semi-annual talks focused on strategic and political issues.
Earlier rounds of the "senior dialogue," first held in 2005, covered contentious bilateral issues and a range of global topics, including security in Northeast Asia, the environment, Iran and the conflict in Sudan's Darfur.
US-China ties are clouded by a variety of issues, including US concerns over Beijing's military build-up and human rights abuses, as well as an undervalued Chinese yuan, which is resulting in a huge US trade deficit with China.
In Vietnam, Negroponte "will have bilateral discussions with his counterparts in the Vietnamese Government," the statement said.
Washington has expressed concerns over human rights issues in communist-ruled Vietnam, which agreed to step up reforms when it joined the World Trade Organization a year ago.
The US House of Representatives has passed binding legislation that will tie US foreign aid to Vietnam to its human rights record.
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