Obama Talks with Chinese President Hu Jintao by Phone

US President Barack Obama and China’s President Hu Jintao held a phone conversation ahead of the Chinese leader’s visit to the US to attend a nuclear summit this month, White House spokesperson Bill Burton said, reports Bloomberg BusinessWeek.

Hu’s visit may boost Obama’s efforts to curb the spread of bomb-making materials and signal warming ties between the countries, which have been frayed by disagreements over the value of the yuan and US arms sales to Taiwan.

China “highly values” the nuclear security issue and opposes nuclear proliferation and nuclear terrorism, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Qin Gang said yesterday in Beijing.

Obama has made the reduction and eventual elimination of nuclear arms a central part of his foreign policy, and more than 40 nations have been invited to attend the April 12–13 summit in Washington, D.C.