TRY SLAPPING DOWN AN ENEMY INSTEAD OF A FRIEND:

Setbacks lead China to tone down anti-US rhetoric (CHARLES HUTZLER, Associated Press)

[T]he tenor was a far cry from last year's Boao meeting, held at the depths of the economic crisis. Then, Liu and others directed barbs at the U.S., calling for a new financial world order and indirectly threatening that China might stop buying U.S. Treasury notes that help finance Washington's growing deficit. The elbowing continued for much of the year as Beijing resisted U.S. and European calls to halt North Korea's and Iran's nuclear programs and take bolder steps to curb the threat of climate change.

While the turnaround in Beijing's attitude may be temporary, the change points to indecision among the leadership about China's role in the world, especially its crucial but fraught ties with the U.S., and about keeping the Chinese economy humming amid a still anemic global recovery.

"We are in a time of reassessment by Beijing about China's foreign policy," said Russell Leigh Moses, a Beijing-based political analyst. "There is no overarching slogan or concept guiding the decision-making process in foreign affairs these days here."

The UR should ditch the trade war and simply require that the PRC yield to democracy.

Posted by Orrin Judd at April 11, 2010 8:07 AM