Theater and substance

The second Strategic Economic Dialogue between China and the U.S. has ended in Washington. Vice premier Wu Yi and treasury secretary Henry Paulson talked a little substance, but the rest was all theatrics. Not only that, is was the wrong theater.

But first the substance: U.S. financial-services firms get easier access to the Chinese market, there will be more flights between the two countries and the U.S. may export more coal technology to China. That's about it and that's all very nice. But do you need a vice premier and 17 government level officials, including the Chinese minister of commerce, to achieve this? Certainly not. The exchange rate and the trade deficit will still be used by Congress to undermine China's foreign trade, perhaps by imposing punishing import tariffs. Madame Wu's trip did nothing to even try to start to solve those two issues. Can it therefore be called a success? A strategic dialogue is meant to address the big issues, not to deliver the peanuts. (The Wall Street Journal: Congress Fumes As China Talks Show Few Gains)

The theater was even more wacky. Madame Wu getting a kiss from Bush... What message does this send to the world? Madame Wu and anti-China hawk Nancy Pelosi amicably chatting. Madame Wu charming her critics in Congress. I have said it before and will repeat it here for good measure: there's nothing wrong with the U.S. and Chinese governments talking to each other. But those images of being good buddies are over the top.

Instead of getting a kiss from a war criminal, Wu Yi could have told Bush that what he is doing in Iraq is not very nice and he'd better pack up and leave.