US Vice President Joe Biden will seek to build a relationship with China’s next generation of leaders on a trip to Asia this week, Reuters reported. Biden departed on Tuesday for visits to China, Mongolia and Japan. He is expected to press Beijing to allow the renminbi to appreciate more quickly against the US dollar, praise Mongolia for its successful democracy, and offer support to Tokyo in the aftermath of the country’s earthquake and tsunami. However, his primary goal is to reach out to his counterpart, China’s Vice President Xi Jinping, who is touted to become president in 2013. “This trip will enable Vice President Biden to, you know, as a good politician does, take a read of the other guy,” said Kenneth Lieberthal, a foreign policy expert at the Brookings Institution. It will be the first trip to China by a high-level US official since Standard and Poor’s (part of McGraw-Hill; MHP.NYSE) downgraded the US credit rating earlier this month.