Washington (AsiaNews) – US President George W. Bush and his Chinese counterpart, Hu Jintao, are scheduled to meet in the US capital on April 20, the White House announced yesterday as Russian President Vladimir Putin was concluding his visit to Beijing.

Bush spokesman Scott McClellan said that the two leaders will talk on a whole range of regional and international issues, including "the 'war on terror', [nuclear] non-proliferation, and advancing freedom and promoting prosperity in Asia and beyond."

Hu was scheduled to visit the US last September but hurricane Katrina forced a cancellation of the trip. US Bush went to China in November.

During his trip, differences of opinion over human rights—the US president called on China to show greater respect for religious freedom—and other issues emerged as irritants. The North Korean nuclear stand off and sanctions against Iran were among them; so were the US foreign debt and China's failure to revalue the yuan.

Many US experts believe the yuan should be revalued by up to 40 per cent. Under the current exchange rate, Chinese exports have a huge price advantage.

The Senate is due to vote by March 31 on the bill threatening China with tariffs on some of its export products unless Beijing does not act on the currency issue.