{"id":120930,"date":"2011-05-08T14:05:02","date_gmt":"2011-05-08T21:05:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/?p=120930"},"modified":"2011-12-08T10:35:30","modified_gmt":"2011-12-08T17:35:30","slug":"heavy-agenda-at-annual-strategic-dialogue-as-us-china-try-to-manage-their-differences","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2011\/05\/heavy-agenda-at-annual-strategic-dialogue-as-us-china-try-to-manage-their-differences\/","title":{"rendered":"Heavy Agenda at Annual Strategic Dialogue as US, China Try to Manage Their Differences"},"content":{"rendered":"
China and the U.S. will hold a third round of Strategic and Economic Dialogue <\/a><\/strong>May 9-10 in Washington DC. \u00a0From Associated Press:<\/p>\n What began in 2006 as a purely economic forum with treasury and central bank leaders has expanded during the Obama administration to cover strategic and security issues that loom increasingly large as China’s global reach and military power grows, challenging American dominance.<\/p>\n Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner will be joined by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton at the head of a U.S. delegation that will also include Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and officials representing 16 U.S. government agencies.<\/p>\n The visiting Chinese team will be led by Vice Premier Wang Qishan, a top economic policymaker, and State Counselor Dai Bingguo, a veteran diplomat, along with officials from 20 Chinese government agencies.<\/p>\n For the first time, senior Chinese military representatives will also attend.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n American and Chinese delegates will have a lot on their plate to discuss. The U.S. is first and foremost concerned with trade and economic issues. U.S. Secretary of Treasury Timothy Geithner has indicated he will ask \u00a0China to hasten the yuan’s rate of appreciation<\/a> <\/strong>and give American businesses more access to Chinese markets. From Brookings:<\/p>\n In a speech earlier this week, U.S. Treasury Secretary Geithner reiterated a clear quid pro quo that defines the overall parameters of the bilateral economic relationship. The speech makes the U.S. position clear that in order to attain China\u2019s objectives in the bilateral relationship, China must adequately satisfy U.S. interests. China\u2019s objectives are seen as including access to high technology products, investment opportunities in the U.S. and market economy status.<\/p>\n For its part, U.S. interests lie in greater market access for its companies, including in government procurement; stronger protection of intellectual property rights; and other reforms that would ensure a level playing field within China for domestic and foreign producers. Secretary Geithner\u2019s speech acknowledges the commitments made on some of these issues during President Hu\u2019s visit to Washington in January but, with good reason, reserves judgment on China\u2019s implementation of these commitments.<\/p>\n Secretary Geithner also urges faster implementation of China\u2019s own reform agenda\u2014financial market reforms, a more flexible exchange rate regime, and growth rebalancing to stoke private consumption and make the economy less dependent on exports or investment. While there are differences in opinion about the desired pace of these reforms, there is agreement on both sides that such reforms would promote the sustainability and durability of China\u2019s growth and also contribute to the global rebalancing effort.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n American businesses have voiced concerns that the Chinese government is instituting barriers to American investment and their access to Chinese markets<\/a><\/strong>. From Wall Street Journal:<\/p>\n “The big thing is a focus on implementing the high-level pledges that have recently been made,” said John Frisbie, president of the U.S.-China Business Council. In January, China’s President Hu Jintao agreed to beef up Beijing’s protection of intellectual property and allow U.S. companies greater access to Chinese markets.<\/p>\n U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, tapped to become ambassador to China, last week ticked down a list of company complaints that China gives its companies advantages in investment opportunities and hasn’t done enough to protect intellectual property, such as software copyrights.<\/p>\n “All of these recent moves by China result in its economy becoming less competitive and less welcoming to foreign direct investment,” Mr. Locke said.<\/p>\n China has indicated a willingness to amend some rules that are acting as a barrier to foreign investments, “but even if they are amended and they change the letter, you don’t necessarily change the spirit in which people actually act,” said Yukon Huang, a senior associate in the Carnegie Endowment for World Peace and a former World Bank country director for China. One major problem has been getting provincial authorities to implement central-government mandates.<\/p>\n “We want to see these commitments…translate into action,” Mr. Geithner said.<\/p>\n For its part, Beijing has logged concerns about the Federal Reserve’s easy-money policies, about Chinese companies’ lack of access to some U.S. industries, such as energy and technology, and about Washington’s slow restructuring of export controls.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Besides economic issues, cyber security is also expected to be on the Strategic and Economic Dialogue agenda<\/a><\/strong>. From the Heritage Foundation:<\/p>\n Much cyber-related attention has been focused on the PRC. China is reportedly the source of many of the hacking efforts directed at U.S. military and security computer networks. Chinese computer infiltration has reputedly obtained access to such sensitive programs as F-35 design information. Such efforts as Titan Rain, Ghostnet, and others have reportedly attacked U.S. and other nations\u2019 information systems systematically and have infiltrated email servers and networks around the world. One example is the \u201cShadow network,\u201d which affected \u201csocial networking websites, webmail providers, free hosting providers and services from some of the largest companies.\u201d\u00a0Many have been traced back to the PRC\u2014but attribution to any specific Chinese entity is extremely difficult.<\/p>\n A growing concern is that China can exploit its position as one of the world\u2019s largest producers of computer chips, motherboards, and other physical parts of the Internet to affect American and allied infrastructure. China has apparently already demonstrated an ability to tamper with Domain Name System (DNS) servers based in China, \u201ceffectively poisoning all DNS servers on the route.\u201d<\/p>\n The fear is that they could now affect foreign-based routers. In this regard, the issue of Chinese counterfeit parts is compounded by uncertainty about whether fake parts are being introduced as part of a concerted intelligence campaign or simply the result of profiteering by local contractors.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n