Brown's U.S. tour to tout "special relationship"

BEIJING, March 4 (Chinese media) -- The trip to Washington

has been heavy for British Prime Minister Gordon Brown as he attempts to improve

ties with Washington and promote his international profile ahead of the upcoming

G-20 economic summit in London.

Brown on Tuesday started his two-day visit to the

American capital amidst dwindling support for his Labor Party at home. He also

faces what analysts say is a diminished bond with the White House compared with

the relationship between George W. Bush and Tony Blair at the height of the

U.S.-led war against terror.

SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP

Brown had been touting the "special relationship"

between Britain and the United States before he traveled to Washington.

"There is no international partnership in recent

history that has served the world better than the special relationship between

Britain and the United States," Brown said in an article in The Sunday Times of

London.

Such enthusiasm was quickly echoed by Barack Obama,

the new leader of the world's largest economy.

"The special relationship between the United States

and Great Britain is one that is not just important to me, it is important to

the American people," Obama told reporters after meeting with Brown.

As the first European leader to meet Obama at the

White House, Brown outpaced French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Chancellor

Angela Merkel of Germany in clinching a close connection with the new

administration.

This might help the British leader polish his image

among countrymen in a turbulent time and put him in a better position to appear

side by side with Obama at the April G-20 summit that will consider the

international economic crisis.

GLOBAL NEW DEAL

The talks between Brown and Obama were expected to

focus mainly on measures to jump-start international economic growth in the most

serious downturn in decades.

Brown will first promote his "global new deal" with

Obama before taking the proposal to the G-20 talks.

The prime minister, who is chairing the G-20

gathering, has said he would push for deep regulatory changes and coordinated

efforts from all of the world's major economies, developed and developing, to

revamp financial rules and stimulate the global economy.

However, as pointed out by many analysts, there is

the potential for fermenting bitterness between Britain and the United States.

That's because no small number of Britons believe themselves to be victims of a

crisis they say was triggered by the United States.

During a press conference earlier this month, Brown

said there was a "failure in the American regulatory system."

"If you take the sub-prime mortgage market in the

United States of America, the sub-prime mortgages, half of them were sold to

Europe," he said.

"The people who were buying these investments from

America were buying what they were told was the most worthy investment of them

all, Triple A rated," Brown said.

Meanwhile, analysts say it was unrealistic to expect

another honeymoon for British-U.S. ties as Obama seems to have attached more

importance to the Pacific region than to Europe.

That observation was reflected in the fact that Hillary Clinton's first overseas trip as Secretary of State was to Asia and Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso was the foreign leader to visit the White House since Obama became president.