The Trouble With Chen

Said Wen: "Mr. Chen has offended,
With the shelter the Yanks have extended,
And no other gent
In the ranks of dissent
Has quite so offended as Chen did."

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's visit to China has been overshadowed, and nearly derailed, by the case of Chinese human rights activist Chen Guangcheng. Mr. Chen, a self-taught lawyer who has campaigned against China's policy of forced sterilization and abortion, escaped house arrest in his native Shandong and sough asylum in the US embassy in Beijing. Evidently trying hard not to anger their nationalistic hosts, US diplomats worked behind the scenes for Mr. Chen's "voluntary" exit from their protection, with solemn warnings to Beijing to respect his human rights. For his part, the activist now openly fears for the safety of himself and his family, and wants to leave the country. It's just one more example of how things are never simple when two big trading partners with radically different political systems attempt to negotiate both commercially and politically.

Higher Prices In China, Or Abroad?

If, for China to hike the renminbi,
A domestic political sin be,
But yuan 'ppreciation
Would quiet inflation,
Then therein the Yang and the Yin be.

China's Premier Wen Jiabao broke new ground for his government yesterday with a public acknowledgment of the role that a strengthening yuan could play in restraining Chinese inflation. Although the central bank had begun to allow very gradual appreciation of the renminbi ("people's currency") last summer, it has seemed until now that the government's top priority was to check the yuan's rise so as to hold down the prices of Chinese exports. Now however, rising inflation may bring Chinese policy more in line with that favored by competitors such as the USA and Germany. 

Currency Trade-Off

"I concede," says Premier Wen Jiabao,
"That the West wants a stronger Yuan now,
But if I acquiesced,
There'd be labor unrest
Here at home, which we could not allow."