Political Discussions
US - China Relations
Posted by clioandme • 7/27/09 • Subscribe to this Discussion [RSS] • Report This Topic
Topics: china
The news here in DC is about US - China talks that cover a range of issues, not least finances. This is happening in an era of a vastly different structural relationship than obtained even just a decade ago. It will be interesting to see where not only these particular talks go, but the whole relationship. I don't foresee any radical change, which might be why this meeting is not on the front page of the Washington Post or NY Times websites---not at the moment anyway.
I'm starting this thread as a kind of experiment. Isn't this one area where Democratic and Republican administrations behave in fairly similar manners? What about the people here?
Of course, it could all derail if we talk only about Bush's versus Obama's fiscal policy, but we'll see.
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Would be interesting to be a fly on the wall at the discussions.
China and the USA are odd bedfellows. The world is busy investing in China and pretty much avoiding the US like the plague.
However China is channelling the foreign investment it receives to the US ($800 billion of treasury securities alone) even though it could make better investments else where. It has to invest in the US, even though it is a poor investment, because it needs the US market to buy China's manufactured goods.
It is an interesting interdependence but is the lender or the borrower in the stronger position for negotiations?-
As I understand it, the treasury notes still offer the best investment opportunity for the Chinese, not lest because of the stability and value of the dollar. Or so I was reading last spring and winter. Long-term, of course, they would like to get out from under that, and I'm sure we fear that, at least in the short in medium term. Apparently, though, the economic mutual dependence is still real enough.
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Is it so strange that the seller lends funds to the buyer.
Not only do they collect the sales price, but interest on it as well.
It's the old company store problem. You end up owing them more than you ever bought to begin with. And they still make money.
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Possibly off topic but Mark do you read either "Rising Powers" or "China Matters"? Both good blogs about this tenuous relationship we have with China.-
I picked up a free copy of the first, which I still want to read. That deals with both China and India, right?
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I just came back from China last month after teaching English there for 5 months, it's a amazingly diverse and historic country, but I was annoyed how the government tries to repress it's people. About 35 % of websites in the UK were not accessible in China, and whilst being out there, first youtube became banned, then blogging sites (I could not access my own blog) and a few days after I left facebook became banned. It seems when there is a 'disagreement' in the country, they try to repress the public's freedom of speech my deactivating websites which can potentially perpetuate a situation in the media, one which they may not like or want attention drawn towards. -
There was a relevant WTO ruling today against China, which is restricting cultural imports from the US: www.nytimes.com/2009/08/13/business/global/13trade.html
The NYT article presents this as a positive move, at least in the eyes of the American business community, because of China's increasingly restrictive economic policies. I get that, especially since China uses the WTO to its advantage in ways that run against the spirit of free trade. I also get the censorship issue that underlies this. One area where I am ambivalent, though, is the notion that the same free trade principles should apply to culture. Followed to its extreme, Hollywood could kill national entertainment industries, or keep them from even developing, though that is not what this specific case is about. -
interesting blog, thanks for addressing these topics!
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