He described the meeting as "productive and open", and accepted an invitation from Hu to visit China later this year.

Hu arrived in London at around noon Wednesday to attend today's G20 summit, and the meeting with Obama was the first item on the agenda of his two-day stay in London.

Professor Jia Qingguo of Peking University said: "The United States, after all, is the biggest economy in the world, and Sino-US ties are the most important in China's foreign relations."

The meeting has drawn global attention.

The Australian, Australia's national daily newspaper, said the meeting between the world's biggest debtor and creditor would "determine how quickly the world will move out of depression".

There have also been calls for the two countries to establish a G2 amid the crisis, which Jia believes will let China shoulder more responsibility in the international community.

President Hu Jintao on Wednesday also met Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

(China Daily April 2, 2009)