Even if U.S. President Barack Obama is in China for the APEC Summit for less than three days, his status as leader of a major world power is felt by the amount of time he spends with his host, Chinese President Xi Jinping. However, the trade-off is less interaction with the ordinary Chinese, which contrasts with his previous visit when he had town-hall style meetings, TV appearances, and speeches included on his tight itinerary.

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Tuesday is reserved for a walk and dinner with his counterpart, and on Wednesday, the two world leaders - along with other heads of state - will participate in welcome ceremony at the Great Hall of the People where Obama and Xi will toast each other, reports the New York Times.

His China trip is on the heels of the U.S. midterm elections that saw the Democrats, Obama's political party, lose control of Congress. With two years left in his second four-year term, Obama is clearly demonstrating that he is not a lameduck president when it comes to global politics.

Previous American presidents probably serve as his benchmark, particularly President Ronald Reagan who urged Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall about 25 years ago. Another influence is President Bill Clinton who helped push for the historic peace agreement in Northern Ireland.

The lesser public appearance by Obama is also because of a tight schedule since he has to fly out of Beijing on Wednesday for Myanmar and Australia.

It also has to do with lessons the White House has learned from past visits such as the 2009 trip when the Chinese government controlled the Q&A in a town-hall meeting and refused a live streaming of the meeting, resulting in lesser coverage by Chinese media of the event.

With barely 72 hours in China, Obama also limited his media exposure to an interview with Xinhua, the country's official news agency, while he spends the bulk of his stay in APEC discussions and nurturing diplomatic relationship with Xi.

The New York Times sees it as returning a favor to the Chinese president who spent almost 8 hours talking with Obama in June 2013, with the cactuses of the Sunnylands estate in Rancho Mirage, California as their backdrop.

TagsBarack Obama, US-China Relationship, APEC summit