Source: Reuters            Date: August 17, 2011

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden will spend the majority of his time and energy on wooing Chinese officials on his tour of Asia, reported Reuters. Biden will make a short visit to Mongolia during this tour, but with the stakes so high, his real interest must lie with China.

Biden has a multitude of top priorities to attend to in China. Once again the US will attempt to convince Chinese official to allow the yuan to rise against the US dollar. However, he will also spend time trying to build a relationship with his Chinese counterpart Vice-President Xi Jinping, who is expected to succeed China's current president, Hu Jintao, in 2013.

"One of the primary purposes of the trip is to get to know China's future leadership,” told Tony Blinken, Biden's national security adviser told Reuters, ”to build a relationship with Vice President Xi, and to discuss with him and other Chinese leaders the full breadth of issues in the US-China relationship."

China holds more of the United States' debt than any other nation in the world, so is demanding fiscal responsibility. Earlier this month, after weeks of uncertainty, a deal was struck to raise the US debt ceiling and reduce its annual deficit. Despite this, the US credit rating was downgraded by Standard and Poor (S&P).

Other issues, such as human rights offenses, the future of Tibet, and relations with Taiwan will take a back seat, Reuters reported. However, Biden will spend at least a bit of his time congratulating Mongolia on its success as a democracy and encourage its development towards a bright future.