Anyone who’s been to China on official business has experienced the legendary banquets that involve vast amounts of drinking. When I worked on Capitol Hill, I went on an official trip to the region. At one dinner with government officials, we began the toasts after the meal. The toast began with rice wine and moved [...]
Entries from July 2009
Ganbei!
A Miracle
The Global Times, the international newspaper of the Chinese Communist party, editorialized very positively on the U.S. China meetings that just concluded in Washington. In keeping with President Obama’s assertion that the history of the 21st century will be defined by the relationship between the US and China, the Chinese see these talks as a [...]
Dan Baxter on the China-US S&ED
The China Daily newspaper is one of the most authoritative news sources in China with a daily circulation of more than 300,000 in 150 countries. Today, it published a column by Fleishman Hillard’s Dan Baxter, a senior vice president in the Beijing office on the top level U.S. China meetings in Washington called the Strategic [...]
Big U.S. China Meeting in Washington
There was a very significant meeting between the U.S. and China occurred today. It paralyzed the city because streets around the Ronald Reagan Building, where the meeting took place, were closed.
It was a joint meeting of the Departments of Treasury and State and their counterparts from China. The Obama Administration is seeking to open up [...]
Chinese Seminar on China’s Role in the World
The Global Times, the Communist Party’s official “global newspaper,” hosted a seminar on “Public Opinion in China and the Changing World. On its website, it posted a slide show listing all the participants, mostly scholars, as well as abstracts on their point of view.
In the Loop – Movie Review
I saw a screening last night of the movie, In the Loop, in advance of its U.S. opening on Friday. It has already opened in the UK. I loved it! It is smart, very funny, cynical and very, very profane.
Set in Washington and London, it’s a behind the scenes look that the [...]
A World of Debt
Congress is currently debating the details of an expansive healthcare reform overhaul, estimated to cost over $1 trillion. Add this projected total to the $1.086 trillion deficit accumulated in the first nine months of fiscal year 2009, we appear on path to add other $2 trillion to our national deficit in one year.
I wonder: how [...]
How Soon Will Electric Cars Dominate The Hybrid Car Market?
A new study released on Monday by the University of California, Berkeley held exciting news for the burgeoning electric car market: electric car sales could jump to 86 percent of U.S. light vehicle sales in 2030 if consumers don’t have to buy their batteries themselves.
Considering that auto emissions are one of the largest contributors of [...]
Stuart Smalley Comes to Washington
Anyone who has followed the career of Al Franken deserves to step back in amusement about his unlikely journey. This is the guy who once did an brilliant impersonation of Mick Jagger on “Saturday Night Live” (click here for the video), and is of course a well-known friend of Stuart Smalley.
Contrast that video with this [...]
Immigration: A Few More Steps Forward
About a week after we noted that President Obama has sent out new signals that his administration intends to press for a comprehensive immigration reform bill this year, he met with a group of members of Congress to urge them to make that legislation happen. So the journey continues — though it has a long [...]
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