Chinese Leader and Obama in Surprise Meeting After Forum

[alp227]

Source: NYT

President Obama and Prime Minister Wen Jiabao of China held an unscheduled meeting on Saturday at the end of an Asian forum to discuss economic issues and China’s festering disputes with neighbors over islands in the South China Sea, American officials said.

The encounter at the larger meeting in Bali, Indonesia, capped a week in which the administration startled Chinese leaders with what appeared to be a campaign to make clear that the United States was re-engaging in the region and not willing to cede influence in Asia to a rising China.

Besides announcing that the United States would station 2,500 Marines in Australia, the administration said that it would enhance military ties with the Philippines and send Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to Myanmar after years of mostly shunning its leadership.

Whether the session on Saturday closed gaps between the United States and China on currency matters was unclear. The United States and other Western nations have complained that China’s currency has been artificially undervalued, giving Chinese exporters an unfair price advantage. The South China Sea dispute the two men spoke of has become a focal point of discontent among China’s neighbors and provided a way for the United States to show its commitment to the region. The United States has waded into the conflict in recent months saying it was willing to mediate disputes between smaller countries and China. That was met by bitterness in China, where leaders saw it as interference.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/20/world/asia/wen-jiabao-chinese-leader-shows-flexibility-after-meeting-obama.html

[pinto]

1. Interesting side development at the conference. Thanks for snagging the article.

:thumbsup:

[AdHocSolver]

2. U.S makes last ditch effort to save empire.

As for U.S. complaints about China cheapening its currency, the U.S. merely needs to change its trade laws to make it unprofitable for U.S. corporations to deal with China and benefit from the cheapened Chinese currency.

It amazes me how easily Americans swallow the nonsense about how the U.S. government can't deal with Chinese currency manipulation, but the U.S., which can't subdue the relatively small populations of Iraq and Afghanistan, is going to threaten into submission the industrial giant and nuclear power that is China.