TOKYO (AFP) - US Treasury Secretary John Snow begins a regional tour here to be dominated by US calls for deep-seated reform of China's currency and trade regimes as the clock ticks down to a crucial global trade meeting in Hong Kong.

Snow will be pushing for a major breakthrough at the December World Trade Organisation (WTO) talks, with the agricultural subsidies seen as the key sticking point to an overall accord on freeing up international trade.

Snow is due Tuesday to leave Tokyo for Shanghai for a week-long swing through China, including a meeting next weekend near Beijing of the Group of 20 larger developing countries and rich nations.