U.S. China Relation

U.S.-China spat complicates minister's visit Reuters — The United States accused China on Tuesday of adopting a more aggressive military stance in the South China Sea as a naval confrontation sparked anger in Beijing and raised tension ahead of a U.S. visit by China's foreign minister. The incident involving five Chinese ships and a U.S. Navy survey vessel threatened to further complicate ties between the two powers as they wrestle with a joint response to the global economic crisis and prepare for the G20 summit in London next month. click to read complete article

Yang urges U.S. to stop meddling in China's internal affairs Xinhua — Visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi on Wednesday urged the United States to stop meddling in China's internal affairs through the Tibet issue. During his talks with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Yang reaffirmed the principled position of the Chinese government on Tibet-related issues, expressing the Chinese side's resolute opposition and strong indignation over some recent statements made by the U.S. administration and over the adoption on Wednesday by the U.S. House of Representatives of a resolution on Tibet introduced by a handful of anti-China U.S. congressmen. click to read complete article

Trade: nightmare of a US-China protectionist war Guardian UK — A full-blown trade war between the United States and China would dislocate the global financial system. To get an idea of what would happen, consider America's 1930 Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, which heralded the Great Depression. The legislation was brazen protectionism, introduced in the wake of the 1929 Wall Street crash, and saw the US hike tariffs on more than 20,000 imported goods to record levels. It was introduced despite a plea by leading American economists who signed a petition asking the government to have second thoughts. Within weeks of it being passed by Congress, America's trading partners retaliated with their own increased tariffs on US goods and American exports and imports plunged by more than half. In the opinion of most economists, the measure was a catalyst for the severe reduction in world trade, which crashed by 66% between 1929 and 1934. click to read complete article