Obama touts new China visa deal as way to create U.S. jobs

BEIJING — President Obama announced a new plan Monday to extend Chinese student visas to five years and business and tourist visas to 10 years, saying the move will boost jobs in the United States.

The visa plan was part of Obama's overall call for improved economic ties between the two nations, he said, and would help China "do well."

The visa change will also apply to U.S. citizens in China. Previously, visas were granted on a year-at-a-time basis.

Asia represents an incredible job-creation opportunity in the United States, Obama said, and that the new visa agreement could inject billions into the U.S. economy. A White House statement said by 2021, Chinese travelers to the United States will contribute nearly $85 billion a year to the economy and support up to 440,000 jobs.

It was unclear how reciprocal the visa liberalization would be for U.S. citizens going to China. In recent years, Chinese authorities have introduced a range of requirements making it increasingly hard for foreign passport holders to process business and residence visas.

Obama was in Beijing for the annual of meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit (APEC). Two rival trade agreements promoted by China and the United States are at the heart of the summit.

Obama arrived in Beijing earlier Monday for a week-long trip to the region that will also take in Burma and Australia — for summits with other world leaders.

The president's focus turns to foreign policy after last week's drubbing of Democrats in the midterm elections and just after North Korea's surprise release of two Americans on Saturday.

Obama met separately Monday with Indonesian President Joko Widodo and Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott.

China's growing economy and territorial ambitions have raised concerns in the region.

"Most Asian countries still worry about China's expansion and increased influence," said Sun Zhe, director of the Center for Sino-U.S. Relations at Tsinghua University in Beijing. "They still have doubts whether China is taking over their market or their islands."

If South Korean officials shared that apprehension they were able to set it aside Monday, as South Korea's presidential office announced a free trade deal with China to remove tariffs on more than 90% of goods over 20 years.

The announcement came after South Korean President Park Geun-hye met with Chinese President Xi Jinping at APEC, apparently completing negotiations that began in May 2012.

Xi also met at APEC with Japanese President Shinzo Abe Monday, after two years of tension between the two nations created by a dispute over uninhabited East China Sea islands.

Obama will meet with Xi Wednesday. The two leaders are likely to tackle such tough issues as human rights, Hong Kong's pro-democracy protests, climate change and the continuing island territorial disputes between China and Japan.

The United States and China share a "sweet and sour" relationship, with plenty of discord but multiple avenues for cooperation, Sun said. "It's good for the two leaders to spend time together in informal meetings."

Obama then heads to Burma, also known as Myanmar, for the East Asia Summit. At the end of the week, he goes to Brisbane, Australia, for the G-20 economic summit of world leaders.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is also attending the APEC and G-20 summits, but no direct meetings are scheduled with Obama.

As for APEC, which China hasn't hosted since 2001, authorities took drastic measures to curb the pervasive air pollution ahead of the meeting. For 10 days, polluting factories in neighboring provinces have been shut down or scaled back operations.

Only half the city's cars are allowed on the roads each day. And many businesses and schools are closed for a week — all attempts to make the air a little cleaner as China takes the world stage hosting the summit.

"I wish we could have APEC every day," said Ma Ning, 35, whose son's kindergarten shut Friday. "The air is so clean, it shows if the government tries their best, we could have blue sky every day."

Contributing: The Associated Press