Chinese vice president Xi Jinping will visit the US this week for a crucial getting-acquainted visit aiming to strengthen trust between the sides before he takes over as leader of the world's most populous nation.

Mr Xi is due to meet President Barack Obama and other top officials in Washington on Tuesday.

He will stop in the mid-western state of Iowa on Wednesday to meet local politicians and families with whom he stayed during a 1985 visit while a local official in charge of the pork industry in China.

Mr Xi finishes the US leg of his visit in California for meetings with business leaders and will stop in Ireland and Turkey on the way home. He is scheduled to leave Beijing later on Monday.

The US visit seeks to better acquaint politicians and opinion makers with the man widely expected to begin taking charge later this year of the world's second largest economy and biggest overseas holder of US government debt.