A US aircraft carrier dropped anchor off Hong Kong Wednesday despite tensions between Washington and Beijing over a planned meeting between President Barack Obama and the Dalai Lama, Tibet's spiritual leader, DPA reported.
Some analysts believed that China might block the visit by the USS Nimitz to show its displeasure over the meeting and other issues, but the carrier with thousands of crew arrived as scheduled.
Relations between the US and China have also been strained by Washington's insistence on going ahead with arms sales to Taiwan and the Beijing's censorship of internet search engine Google.
Port visits to the city of 7 million, which reverted to Chinese sovereignty in 1997, must be authorized by Beijing and have been used to send out political messages in the past.
In November 2007, the USS Kitty Hawk with 8,000 servicemen and women on board was forced to turn away from Hong Kong at Thanksgiving when China did not respond to requests for permission to visit.
President Obama and the Dalai Lama are due to meet in the White House on Thursday. China has formally asked the US to cancel the meeting, warning that it will damage bilateral relations.
US aircraft carrier docks in Hong Kong despite US-China tensions
