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The Chinese delegation with President Hu Jintao and his entourage will dine with Bill and Melinda Gates at Gates' mansion after visiting the Microsoft campus today.

President Hu's first official visit to Seattle includes a detour to Redmond, home of global technology power Microsoft. His delegation will meet with Microsoft executives, various government officials, and local business and community leaders.

The meeting highlights continued efforts by US interests to encourage Beijing to crack down harder on software and other intellectual property piracy in China. Yesterday, Microsoft and Lenovo officials held a symbolic joint signing of an agreement that will see Lenovo promote the use of licensed software by Chinese computer users.

"During the last 10 years, China's information technology industry has emerged as a global center for growth and innovation," said Gates, chairman and chief software architect of Microsoft.

"We're encouraged by China's efforts to strengthen intellectual property protection, which will provide the foundation for continued expansion of the IT industry in China."

Later this evening, the Gates family will entertain Hu and his delegation at Gates' Medina mansion for dinner. Washington Governor Christine Gregoire will serve as host, Microsoft said in a statement.

CNet News listed the menu for the exclusive dinner at the $97 million mansion:

The guests will be served a three-course dinner, starting with a smoked guinea fowl salad, a choice of either beef filet with Walla Walla onions or Alaskan halibut and spot prawns before a dessert of rhubarb brown butter almond cake, the event organizers said.

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David Utter is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business.