From AP:
Turning attention from efforts to calm the U.S. credit crisis, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson meets Wednesday with China’s new point man on strained trade ties with Washington — a former star banker who Paulson has called a friend.
The meeting with Vice Premier Wang Qishan comes as Beijing’s crackdown on protests in Tibet and U.S. financial turmoil have overshadowed pressure from Washington and calls for possible sanctions over trade and currency controls.
“Mr. Paulson will want to know more about Wang Qishan,” said Li Kui-Wai, an economist at the City University of Hong Kong. “He’s coming to see how he’s going to conduct economic affairs in China.”
