Obama and Hu – moving towards

Despite the smiles and glad handing, American President Barack Obama and China's Hu Jintao haven't come up with a panacea to their growing trade deficit. In fact, they achieved something different.

During his first official visit to China, President Obama failed to convince the Chinese about improving human rights or opening its doors to more American-made goods.

But the two leaders did come away with something positive – greater co-operation on nuclear energy and climate change.

The Presidents also discussed a strategy for more balanced growth, which could lead to more jobs in the US and higher living standards in Asia.

News analyst Pepe Escobar  believes Obama now sees China as a peer.

“An American President has come here, 11 years after President Bill Clinton, not to lecture China, but to agree that China is, in fact, a peer," says Escobar. "Obama stop short of calling China a rival, and that’s exactly the thinking in Washington among Pentagon and the CIA circles. But at least he acknowledged publicly that they are peers. So, in fact this is an acknowledgement of a ‘G 2’ between US and China.”