From Asia Times Online:
Next week, pragmatic US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson Jr and Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke will lead an unprecedented pride of US cabinet secretaries (notable among them the secretaries of commerce, labor, energy, health and human services, and Trade Representative Susan Schwab) who will land in Beijing for a week of high-level, high-stakes consultations. The topics will include market access, intellectual-property protection and the remarkable US trade deficit with China.
…… the United States is not capable of creating a consistent and sustainable position on trade issues where there is a glimmer of “mutual benefit”, the Chinese will, as they have done before with other hapless US emissaries (Alexander Haig, George Shultz and others), quietly divide and conquer, sending Paulson and his fellow emissaries home with a scintilla of dignity but absolutely no results. [Full Text]
