U.S. President George W. Bush pressed President Hu Jintao on Sunday to rein in China's swelling trade surplus and push forward currency reform. One positive move on trade was an agreement by China to buy 70 Boeing 737s in a deal worth $4 billion. The near-perennial U.S. trade deficit with China, a lightning rod for criticism in the U.S. Congress, could top $200 billion this year, Reuters reported. At a joint news conference after their talks, Hu said he and Bush had expressed a willingness to "join hands together" to achieve more equitable trade and China would press ahead with the reform of its yuan currency. Hu, who accepted an invitation to visit Washington, most likely in the spring, also pledged China's cooperation in fighting the widespread piracy of American goods ranging from music and films to birth control pills and brake pads, which costs U.S. manufacturers billions in lost sales each year. Continuing a theme of his four-country Asia tour, Bush said it was important that social, political and religious freedoms grow in China. "A healthy society is a society that welcomes all faiths," Bush said. Hu also told Bush he was committed to peace and stability in the Taiwan strait and would do his utmost to strive for peaceful unification. "This being said, we will by no means tolerate so-called Taiwan independence," Hu said. China is the third leg of Bush's Asian trip, after Japan and South Korea. He goes on to Mongolia on Monday. --SP 1140 Local Time 0840 GMT
