The Wu Yi/Hank Paulson photo-op a.k.a. the Strategic Economic Dialogue, has come to an end. Obviously, the purpose of a two-day meeting is not to negotiate—even if one counts Secretary Paulson jawboning Mdme. Wu over dinner about the merits of opening up China’s financial markets to his eager buddies on Wall Street. The meeting is... Read More

From McClatchy’s article on the US-China strategic economic dialogue now going on in Washington, I learned that China’s immense foreign exchange reserves have earned the nickname "The Great Wall of Cash". In keeping with China Matters’ kneejerk tendency to question conventional wisdom and conceptual shortcuts, I was compelled to calculate how big a wall of... Read More

The countervailing duty (CVD) determination against China for subsidizing its paper industry points to the emergence of a new approach by the Bush administration. With the Democrats in control of Congress and political pressure from both sides of the aisle to “do something” in response to the ballooning trade deficit with China, the Bush administration... Read More