BEIJING, Nov 22 (AFP) - Chinese President Jiang Zemin is set to fly to Manila Saturday on the first leg of an intensive schedule of meetings with dozens of regional leaders from Japan to India and a key encounter with US President Bill Clinton.

Jiang, who is at the forefront of China's push for greater international recognition and world standing, will kick off Sunday morning by meeting Clinton for vital talks aimed at pushing shaky Sino-US relations onto a stable and positive footing.

The two are also expected to announce a highly-symbolic presidential visit by Clinton to Beijing in the first half of next year, as their rollercoaster ties move towards the straight and narrow.

Jiang will also hold talks with Japanese Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto, and Australian Prime Minister John Howard.

Japan is still embroiled in a testy dispute with China over the Senkaku-Diaoyu islands while Canberra felt Beijing's ire earlier in the year when it invited Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, to visit.

The 70-year-old president will then join the informal summit of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in Subic Bay on Monday to meet with the other leaders of the 18-member body.

China has spent much of this year trying to calm fears of its regional expansion, which were sparked by its military presence in the South China Sea last year and its war games in the Taiwan Strait in March.

Jiang's state visit to the Philippines, which follows directly from the APEC meeting, is also expected to focus on the South China Sea issue, which drew sparks between Manila and Beijing last year.

The head of the world's most populous nation will then turn his attention to nations on China's eastern borders, flying out of Manila on November 28 for state visits to India, Pakistan and Nepal.

India's acceptance of Tibetan refugees and its decision to grant the Dalai Lama permission to live in northern Dharamsala after he fled Lhasa in 1959 have long annoyed China.

But relations have improved sharply in recent years, despite lingering border disputes prompted by a brief border war in 1962.

Pakistan, in contrast, has much stronger relations with China, although Beijing's alleged sale of ring magnets to Islamabad caused high tensions with the United States, and was only resolved when Beijing signed an agreement in May pledging to refrain from aiding any non-protected nuclear facilities.

Jiang's last port of call will be the mountainous kingdom of Nepal, which has a long land border with Tibet, and has in the past been used by Tibetan refugees fleeing to India.

However, recent agreements between Kathmandu and Beijing appear to have stopped, or heavily reduced, the flow of Tibetans.