Cooperation is the name of the game
On the eve of the second round of the US-China Strategic Economic Dialogue (S&ED) that started in Beijing on Monday, leaders of both countries sent careful, quiet and clear signals of respect for their nation's core interests and willingness to engage cooperatively on important matters of mutual concern.
As he was leading a trade mission to China last week, for example, US Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke was making headlines in both countries by promoting the value of clean energy technology sales from the United States to China and showcasing a contract a US company had signed to supply components for Chinese wind turbines.
At the same time, Locke told a trade-friendly audience of the dangers to China's own long-term interests of an "increasingly difficult regulatory environment" and protectionist industrial policies that could drive away innovative foreign companies and their investments.
