Obama aide holds talks in China after Syria veto

The United States' national security advisor held talks Tuesday with President Hu Jintao and other Chinese leaders, after Beijing's veto of a UN Security Council resolution on Syria angered Washington.

Thomas Donilon, the first national security advisor to visit China in eight years, also met Chinese State Councillor Dai Bingguo, a foreign policy heavyweight who said Beijing attached "great importance" to the visit.

"Your visit this time is very special and important considering the timing, the background and the mission that you carry with you," Dai told Donilon at the start of the meeting.

Donilon, who will also visit Japan during his trip, said he had been dispatched by President Barack Obama as part of the two countries' "intensive interaction and dialogue".

Though economic and business ties have boomed along with China's economic development, the two sides are beset by regular tensions over human rights and other issues.

Last week China, along with Russia, vetoed a resolution at the United Nations Security Council aimed at Syria. The resolution had been backed by Washington, Britain and a number of other countries.

The Obama administration criticised Beijing's veto as "highly regrettable".

China's assertion of territorial claims over islands in the South China Sea and East China Sea also claimed by countries with close economic or security ties to the US has also clouded relations.