Chinese President's State Visit Also Presents Tricky Situation for President Obama

President Obama will welcome Chinese President Hu Jintao to the White House with all the pageantry that comes with a state visit, and while publicly the two will probably talk of celebrating the relationship and common ground, there are some issues that make the visit a bit tricky for Obama.

The biggest among them is the fact that numerous human rights organizations charge that China violates several human rights - including strict control of speech, number of children, and religion.

Most recently, Obama praised Chinese human rights activist Liu Xiaobo, who recently won a Nobel Peace Prize but was unable to attend because he is still in prison, and encouraged the Chinese government to release Liu.

The White House says President Obama plans to bring the issue up in his meetings, and he reportedly met with five human rights activists last week to get more background, but it's unclear how much he will press Hu.

"[W]e will continue to have difficult conversations, but necessary conversations that -- that had to be have -- had to be had with China and we'll do that again tomorrow," said Press Secretary Robert Gibbs.

Others in the Obama administration took more of a tough talk approach, including recent speeches by Secretary of State Clinton and Defense Secretary Gates, however the White House didn't necessarily reflect that Obama was going to take a harder line.

"I think it is pretty safe to assume that some of those issues are not issues that -- that China wishes to speak about and the president brings up because they are important to our standing in the world and our relationship with the Chinese. And I expect him to continue to do so." Gibbs said.

Obama also faces some missteps from Hu's last visit in 2006, some of which the Bush administration had control over, and some they didn't.

Bush chose to give Hu a lunch, and forego a big, state dinner in part because of China's human rights violations. It was also more of his style -- choosing daytime talks over nighttime formality.

Hu got a 21-gun salute and large welcome to the White House, but there was a hiccup later in a reception when a woman protesting China's treatment of a banned religious movement interrupted remarks with some shouting.

Also during a ceremony, an overhead voice announced China's official name incorrectly, calling it the "Republic of China," the formal name for Taiwan, instead of the "People's Republic of China."

In addition, Obama was visited by the Dalai Lama, in February, and exit from the White House raised some eyebrows when he was photographed leaving through a side door with bags of garbage. The garbage was said to be there in part due to the massive snowstorm that had hit D.C., slowing down some trash pick-up around the city.