CHINA: It may have been the warmest day of the year in Beijing, but inside the Great Hall of the People the temperature was distinctly cool when President Bush and President Jiang Zemin, faced the world's media.
Both leaders emerged bang on time for the joint press conference after a working lunch served at a horse-shoe shaped cherrywood table in a nearby cabinet room. But their punctuality was interpreted as a sign that their talks did not go well.
As both men walked into the ornate, flower bedecked hall to answer questions, there was a few feet of distance between them, and little evidence of bon- homie. As he stepped up behind the Stars and Stripes, Mr Bush looked cross. There was no flicker of a smile on Mr Jiang's face either. The body language was stiff and formal.
It was in sharp contrast to the back-slapping and hugs swapped between Mr Bush and the Japanese Prime Minister, Mr Koizumi, in Tokyo a few days ago.
Mr Bush had hoped to strike a deal blocking the sale of missile and nuclear technology to so-called "rogue" states. It was clear Beijing wasn't about to deliver.
"It is natural for China and the United States to disagree on some issues," Mr Jiang said. "As long as the two sides act in a spirit of mutual respect, equality and seeking common ground, we will be able to gradually narrow our differences." Not quickly enough on this occasion, clearly, for the US and the stern looking Mr Bush.
Arms control was not the only issue of difference between the two super-powers. Mr Jiang initially stonewalled queries from two members of the White House Press Corps about the Chinese authorities' repression of religion and in particular the imprisonment of more than 50 Catholic priests and bishops.
He was also reluctant to answer a question about his opinion of the Iraqi regime.
With Mr Bush listening intently, Mr Jiang said even though he didn't follow any religion, it didn't stop him being interested and he had read the Bible, the Koran and Buddhist scriptures. Those who had been jailed, he said, were detained because they "broke the law, not because of their religious beliefs, and I have no right anyway to interfere in judicial affairs."