Obama Arrives in China on Trip With Complex Agenda

BEIJING — President Obama arrived here on Monday morning for a three-day visit that will capture the complexities of the United States-Chinarelationship: the tensions of a rising power confronting an established one, as well as the promise that the world’s two largest economies could find common cause on issues like climate change.

Touching down under skies that were a government-mandated blue — the authorities idled factories and kept vehicles off the roads to clear the air — Mr. Obama plunged into a hectic schedule that mixed the solemn rituals of a state visit with the deal-making of an economic summit meeting. 

Mr. Obama’s visit, his second as president, began on a promising note on Saturday with North Korea’s release of two Americans held there. Administration officials did not speculate about whether the release was timed to the visit, but it sent an unmistakably conciliatory message on the eve of talks that are certain to include the nuclear-armed rogue state.   More at NYTimes