SHANGHAI – President Barack Obama is walking a tightrope on his first trip to China, seeking to enlist help in tackling urgent global problems while weighing when and how — or if — he should raise traditional human rights concerns.

Obama arrived in Shanghai late at night, in a driving rain, hustling through a phalanx of umbrella-holding dignitaries to reach his limousine. On Monday, the president is holding talks with local politicians and, in one of the marquee events of his weeklong Asian trip, conducting an American-style town hall discussion with Chinese university students.

Thirty years after the start of diplomatic relations between the two countries, the ties are growing — but remain mixed on virtually every front.

The two nations are partnering more than ever on battling global warming, but they still differ deeply over hard targets for reductions in the greenhouse-gas emissions that cause it. China has supported sterner sanctions to halt North Korea’s nuclear weapons program, but it still balks at getting more aggressive about reining in Iran’s uranium enrichment.

U.S. President Barack Obama gestures as he delivers a speech at a dialogue with Chinese youth at the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum during his four-day state visit to China, Nov. 16, 2009

Obama said here Monday the United States does not seek to contain China’s rise and he welcomes China as a “strong, prosperous and successful member of the community of nations.”

Obama made the remarks during a dialogue with Chinese youth at the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum in China’s economic hub Shanghai.

In the event aired live on xinhuanet.com and Chinese and foreign television channels, Obama said the world is fundamentally interconnected and power in the 21st century is no longer a zero-sum game.

The dialogue, chaired by Fudan University President Yang Yuliang, attracted about 600 students from several universities in Shanghai.

“The jobs we do, the prosperity we build, the environment we protect and the security we seek are all shared,” he told the audience. “One country’s success does not come at the expense of another.”