[grudabor]

From the whole world's perspective, America must succeed or we all pay the price.

America need China to buy its debts before it can succeed.

Has the rules of the game changed?



China feeling cocky as Clinton poised to visit.
By Aileen McCabe, Canwest News ServiceFebruary 16, 2009

SHANGAI - China appears to be feeling slightly cocky in advance of U. S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's visit later this week.

Not only is it buoyed by the G7 finance ministers' praise of its stimulus package and their toned-down comments on its currency policy, it is feeling on the side of the angels with its continued criticism of the U.S. ``Buy American'' plan, which has also been strongly opposed by the likes of Canada, Europe and Japan.

In an editorial on the weekend, the official government news agency Xinhua, said: ``History and economics have told us, facing a global financial crisis, trade protectionism is not a solution, but a poison to the solution.''

Beijing has already promised it will not resort to any sort of ``Buy Chinese'' policy in retaliation.

The G7's moderate comment on the Chinese Remimbi, that it is ``expected to appreciate in effective terms,'' was perhaps the most welcome news, however.

Beijing has been smarting since January when new U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner indicated to Congress that there might be a case to made that China was manipulating its currency. But the G7 avoided finger-pointing and simply praised China for its ``commitment to move to a more flexible exchange rate.''

The Financial News, a Beijing paper, commented: ``A range of signs indicate that China's role in withstanding the crisis is harder and harder to ignore.''

It suggested Western nations could not afford to ``make an enemy of China.''

Clinton arrives in China on Friday, after stops in Japan, Indonesia and South Korea.

Beijing cleared the way for her visit Monday, by announcing it would resume dialogue between the Chinese and U.S. military. The annual talks between the two nations, which began in 1997, were suspended by China last November in protest against the $6.5 billion arms deal the Bush administration approved for Taiwan.

According to the China Daily, Defense Ministry spokesman Hu Changming said ``informal'' talks will begin again soon.

Although the world economic crisis is expected to dominate Clinton's agenda in China, en route to Japan she told reporters she would also raise questions about human rights when she meets Chinese leaders.

Seven major human rights groups issued an open letter last week calling on her not to forget rights in the face of the financial downturn.

Clinton said she would ``not be shying away'' from the sensitive topic while in China.

Beijing is likely to be better prepared than ever to counter her comments.

After its appearance last week before the U.N. Human Rights Council's periodic review panel, it managed to find enough praise amid the criticism to declare the exercise a qualified success.

``A majority of countries spoke highly of China's human rights policies and achievements and supported China continuing to follow the path in line with national conditions,'' Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Ye told reporters at her regular briefing. ``Although a few countries attempted to politicize the review and made some groundless accusations, they were rebuked by most countries.''

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