The President of China will touch down later today in the city of Seattle at the start of his much-heralded first official US visit.

Hu Jintao and his wife Liu Yongqing will spend their first evening on American soil at a gala dinner for 100 people attended by Bill Gates, the world's richest man and head of the Microsoft computing empire, which is based in the city.

Business priorities will dominate the first day of the 63-year-old Chinese leader's visit, with a tour of Boeing's massive Everett plant near Seattle scheduled for tomorrow. Alan Mulally, the commercial president of Boeing, will show him round.

Only later will he move on to forging political ties, with a meeting with President Bush in Washington DC timetabled for Thursday.

Mr Hu's decision to start his trip with Boeing and Microsoft is widely interpreted as sending a message that China is interested in bilateral trade and feels it can do business with America.

He will meet leaders of companies at the forefront of technological development, to discuss China’s goal of transforming itself from a mainly low-wage, manufacturing-based economy to an innovation-driven one.

Meanwhile both Microsoft and Boeing have strong business interests in China, and are expected to make every effort to give Mr Hu the warmest of welcomes.

Boeing has benefited from China’s numerous purchases of its aircraft, including a $4.6 billion deal for 80 jets announced this month.

Microsoft looks set to reap the rewards of a new rule that requires all new computers made and sold in China to be pre-installed with legitimate software to prevent piracy.

Yesterday the software developer signed a deal in Redmond, Oregon, with China’s biggest computer maker, Lenovo, to pre-install Microsoft operating systems in the computers, Seattle-based Komo TV reported.

Much of the Microsoft software currently used in China is pirated. Intellectual piracy and internet censorship will be on the agenda, the Seattle Times quoted a Microsoft official saying.

US internet companies, including Google, have had to censor their internet content and services in China, for which they are facing increasing criticism at home.

The Seattle Trade Development Alliance, which is organising Mr Hu’s visit, said that China was Washington state’s third-largest trading partner, with more than $20 billion in two-way trade.

Mr Hu is also likely to get an early taste in Seattle of the protests which are expected to follow his tour. Numerous groups eager to air grievances over China’s policies have vowed to make themselves heard.

A joint rally by Taiwanese-Americans, Tibetan rights advocates and Falun Gong members is scheduled near his Seattle hotel tonight.

"We’ve made at least 200 to 300 signs and we’re hoping to have one person per sign," said Brian Stolz, an organiser. "Seattle is a pretty laid-back place, but we don’t like what China’s doing and we believe this is a unique opportunity for us to say something."

Yesterday, approximately 150 Falun Gong members demonstrated in Seattle’s Chinatown, he said.

Tomorrow afternoon Mr Hu will leave for the US capital for his meeting with Mr Bush. The visit, which comes amid growing outcry in Congress over the record $201 billion US trade deficit with China, will likely see Hu grilled on Beijing’s alleged "unfair" trade practices, including its "undervalued" currency.

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