China has penetrated the Obama Administration

[vector7]

This is part of a 5 point cooperation plan China offered the Obama Administration last year.

Here's more information touching these areas:

• President Obama will urge China to join US in ‘world leadership’
• Obama's China Trade Solution: Give Them Access to our Latest Technology
• Obama loosens missile technology controls to China
• Obama loosens sanctions on C-130s to China
• Pentagon Loses Control of Bombs to China's Metal Monopoly
  
• Obama Administration opens the door for the Axis to join NATO
• Red Dawn Alert: Red China’s DM arrives in Mexico to Promote Military Cooperation
• Be Prepared To Learn Chinese

China, US pledge cooperation in law enforcement

English.news.cn 2010-10-20 23:48:23


Zhou Yongkang (R), a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and secretary of the Political and Legislative Affairs Committee of the CPC Central Committee, meets with U.S. Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr (L) in Beijing, capital of China, Oct. 20, 2010. (Xinhua/Li Xueren)

BEIJING, Oct. 20 (Xinhua) -- Senior Chinese and U.S. officials vowed here Wednesday to boost cooperation in law enforcement and make joint efforts to improve bilateral ties.

The pledge came when Zhou Yongkang, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, met with visiting U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

Holder is the highest-ranking U.S. judical official to visit China since U.S. President Barack Obama took office in 2009.

A sound relationship between China and the United States is not only in the interests of the two nations' peoples but also conducive to peace, stability and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific region and the world at large, said Zhou, who is also secretary of the Political and Legal Affairs Committee with the CPC Central Committee.

"We hope the United States will honor its commitments and think of and handle bilateral relations from a long-term and strategic perspective. We also hope the U.S. will respect China's sovereignty and dignity and not do anything that hurts the overall China-U.S. relationship," said the Chinese official.

Zhou said China is serious about cooperation with the U.S. and hopes to make joint efforts to hunt down fugitive suspects, and fight terrorism, drug abuse and intellectual property rights violations.

Holder said the United States attaches importance to U.S.-China relations and hopes to find common ground with China while putting aside differences.

The U.S. Department of Justice hopes to be a good partner of its Chinese counterpart, he added.

[American Patriot]

Zhou said China is serious about cooperation with the U.S. and hopes to make joint efforts to hunt down fugitive suspects, and fight terrorism, drug abuse and intellectual property rights violations.

That's the biggest JOKE I've heard all month.

[Malsua]

Too bad all the jokes are on us

[vector7]

Barack Obama's poor economic policies are playing into China's hands

It's a quiet morning in the Famous Cozy Soup 'n' Burger diner on the corner of Astor Place and Broadway. "Sometimes it's busy, sometimes it's slow," says the waiter. "The economy is making it more slow than busy."

By Damian Reece, Comment from America
Published: 10:04PM BST 25 Oct 2010
52 Comments

He may have a while to wait before his tables are full again. The regulars keep coming but a return to the bustling peak of the last boom, which started to topple over in the final quarter of 2007, seems a long way off.



Americans are approaching next month's mid-term elections experiencing a new sensation – they're feeling poorer than five years ago. Not surprisingly they don't like it and Democrat candidates in the upcoming vote will feel the full force of their frustrations.

Related Articles

• Pound forecast to tumble on 'insane' spending cuts
• G20 reaches agreement and vows to avoid currency war
• G20 battles to find common ground on currency war
• Geithner says dollar 'in alignment' with euro and yen
• China growth slows to 9.6pc as Beijing applies brakes
• Dollar plummets on talk of $500bn Fed stimulus

Not only are we witnessing the first asset-based downturn in America since the Great Depression, with house prices still 20pc to 25pc down and negative equity in abundance, there is also a palpable sense here that, when it comes to the economy, America isn't being led effectively.

President Barack Obama's economics team, including Larry Summers and Christina Romer, which was supposed to deliver robust recovery, has been dismantled. While fears of a double-dip recession may be no more than the usual jitters during a mid-cycle slowdown, there is little confidence that President Obama can bring Americans together again in the political centre to deliver the right policies to get the domestic economy on a firmer footing.

For the White House, economic success would mean job creation but companies aren't creating employment fast enough to stop the unemployment rate heading toward one in 10. The US budget deficit could be expanded even more to create government jobs but Americans feel it's the private sector that needs to form jobs for a sustainable long-term recovery – an argument familiar to anyone in the UK.

But this lack of investment in new jobs isn't because companies lack the resources. Corporate America, as in the UK, has an embarrassment of riches on its collective balance sheet. But having come through the crisis lean and mean, chief executives intend to stay that way.

When it comes to investing, the risk and reward equation is skewed away from creating jobs and more towards buying rival companies to boost growth (while often cutting jobs) or buying back a company's own equity to enhance shareholders' returns and management's own
share-based incentive schemes.

After all, according to corporate America, what's the point of starting a business to create jobs when it will be weighed down by health care costs, taxes and red tape?

Exasperated business leaders here in the US simply believe Washington is handing a competitive advantage to rival
Far East exporters whose goods are deemed fit to be consumed in the American economy but not produced by the American economy. And because it risks being condemned as xenophobic, companies are unwilling to make a fuss about the fact that an increasing amount of the West's intellectual property is being stolen with impunity. Again, Americans feel their government is not doing anything to redress this unfairness.

But whether it's planning restrictions, land use restrictions, tax burdens or rules and regulations, there is a governance gap in the US, as in other Western economies, which is holding back growth. The poor leadership and economic policies of the Obama administration are forcing the domestic economy to compete with one hand tied behind its back. Not a great way of encouraging those mountains of cash to be invested in job creation.

That governance gap is being arbitraged by the likes of China, and its emerging market counterparts, which simply get on with growth under orchestrated and highly directed economic and industrial policies.

Instead of the West's democratic advantage being allowed to show its creative strengths, it is throwing up obstacles to re-establishing the economic credentials of countries such as America. That mismanagement is what the increasingly vocal protests here, including the Tea Party movement, are getting so cross about.

Everyone in the West can agree that free trade, not protectionism, is the way forward. But in a free-trade environment, when faced with increasingly effective competition from centralised, authoritarian regimes, liberal democracies need to play to their strengths even more.

And that is a strength based on freedom to operate. Instead, Western democracies are becoming characterised by increasing restrictions, not liberties.

No one here wants to turn America back into the Wild West but the current paralysis of US governance is the single biggest mistake America is making and the single biggest competitive advantage being enjoyed by China.

Beggar-thy-neighbour trade wars based on currency devaluationis only a very short-term tonic for America and is no substitute for longer-term sustainable job creation. It is jobs that will create the wealth to allow households to pay off their mortgages and afford the fees needed to pay for higher education that will equip the next generation to compete.

Quantitative easing (a way of printing money) will support the price of financial assets in the short term in the hope of inspiring confidence and a positive wealth effect. But a return to the credit-induced consumerism and illusions of wealth that characterised the last boom are no answers to America's current economic problems. And that goes for the UK too.

damian.reece@telegraph.co.uk

[vector7]

Companion Post:

• The many dots on China and the Obama Administration

Obama Adminstration lets China bypass Wall Street for Treasury orders



(Reuters) - China can now bypass Wall Street when buying U.S. government debt and go straight to the U.S. Treasury, in what is the Treasury's first-ever direct relationship with a foreign government, according to documents viewed by Reuters.

The relationship means the People's Bank of China buys U.S. debt using a different method than any other central bank in the world.

The other central banks, including the Bank of Japan, which has a large appetite for Treasuries, place orders for U.S. debt with major Wall Street banks designated by the government as primary dealers. Those dealers then bid on their behalf at Treasury auctions.

China, which holds $1.17 trillion in U.S. Treasuries, still buys some Treasuries through primary dealers, but since June 2011, that route hasn't been necessary.

The documents viewed by Reuters show the U.S. Treasury Department has given the People's Bank of China a direct computer link to its auction system, which the Chinese first used to buy two-year notes in late June 2011.

China can now participate in auctions without placing bids through primary dealers. If it wants to sell, however, it still has to go through the market.
The change was not announced publicly or in any message to primary dealers.

"Direct bidding is open to a wide range of investors, but as a matter of general policy we do not comment on individual bidders," said Matt Anderson, a Treasury Department spokesman.

While there is been no prohibition on foreign government entities bidding directly, the Treasury's accommodation of China is unique.

The Treasury's sales of U.S. debt to China have become part of a politically charged public debate about China's role as the largest exporter to the United States and also the country's largest creditor.

The privilege may help China obtain U.S. debt for a better price by keeping Wall Street's knowledge of its orders to a minimum.

Primary dealers are not allowed to charge customers money to bid on their behalf at Treasury auctions, so China isn't saving money by cutting out commission fees.

Instead, China is preserving the value of specific information about its bidding habits. By bidding directly, China prevents Wall Street banks from trying to exploit its huge presence in a given auction by driving up the price.

It is one of several courtesies provided to a buyer in a class by itself in terms of purchasing power. Although the Japanese, for example, own about $1.1 trillion of Treasuries, their purchasing has been less centralized. Buying by Japan is scattered among institutions, including pension funds, large Japanese banks and the Bank of Japan, without a single entity dominating.

Granting China a direct bidding link is not the first time Treasury has gone to great lengths to keep its largest client happy.

In 2009, when Treasury officials found China was using special deals with primary dealers to conceal its U.S. debt purchases, the Treasury changed a rule to outlaw those deals, Reuters reported last June. But at the same time it relaxed a reporting requirement to make the Chinese more comfortable with the amended rule.

Another feature of the U.S.-China business relationship is discretion: The Treasury tried to keep its motivation for the 2009 rule change under wraps, Reuters reported.

Documents dealing with China's new status as a direct bidder again demonstrate the Treasury's desire for secrecy -- in terms of Wall Street and its new direct bidding customer.

To safeguard against hackers, Treasury officials upgraded the system that allows China to access the bidding process.

Then they discussed ways to deflect questions from Wall Street traders that would arise once the auction results began revealing the undeniable presence of a foreign direct bidder.

"Most hold the view that foreign accounts only submit 'indirect bids' through primary dealers. This will likely cause significant chatter on the street and many questions will likely come our way," wrote one government official in an email viewed by Reuters.

In the email, the official suggested providing basic, general answers to questions about who can bid in Treasury actions.

"For questions more extensive or probing in nature, I think it prudent to direct them to the or Treasury public relations area," the official wrote.

The granting to China of direct bidder status may be controversial because some government officials are concerned that China has gained too much leverage over the United States through its large Treasury holdings.
For example, economist Brad Setser, who is a member of the National Economic Council and has also served on the National Security Council, has argued China's large Treasury holdings pose a national security threat.

Writing for the Council on Foreign Relations in 2009, Setser posited that China's massive U.S. debt holdings gave it power over U.S. policy via the threat of a swift, large sale of U.S. debt that could send the market into turmoil and drive up interest rates.

But Treasury officials have long maintained that U.S. debt sales to China are kept separate from politics in a business relationship that benefits both countries. The Chinese use Treasuries to house the dollars they receive from selling goods to the United States, while the U.S. government is happy to see such strong demand for its debt because it keeps interest rates low.

A spokesman for the Chinese embassy in Washington did not respond to calls and emails seeking comment.

The United States has, however, displayed increasing anxiety about China as a cybersecurity threat. The change Treasury officials made to their direct bidding system before allowing access to China was to limit access to the system to a specially designed private network connection controlled by the Treasury.

China is among the most sensitive topics for bankers and government officials who court the country as a financial client because of its size and importance, and none would agree to comment on the record for this story.
A former debt management official at the Treasury who did not want to be identified said that as China's experience in the U.S. Treasury market has deepened over time, Chinese officials may have felt more comfortable taking the reins in the management of their holdings.

Their request to bid directly, in his view, came from a confidence that their money managers could buy U.S. debt more efficiently on their own than through Wall Street banks, which can often drive up the price of Treasuries at an auction if they know how much large clients are willing to pay. Such a practice that is not specifically illegal, though most traders would deem it unethical.

Evidence of China's growing sophistication as a money manager in the U.S. markets is clear in its expansion of operations in New York. Its money management arm, the State Administration for Foreign Exchange (commonly called SAFE), has an office in Midtown Manhattan and a seasoned chief investment officer -- former Pacific Investment Management Co derivatives head Changhong Zhu -- in Beijing.

A woman who answered the phone at SAFE's New York office said no one in the office was authorized to talk to the media.

[vector7]

HUGE DOT: Communist Chinese Buyers DEFAULT on Raw Material Contracts

by John Galt
May 20, 2012 22:50 ET

As America parties, the world burns.

Unfortunately for some futures contract holders and those who think they can sell anything to the, ahem, “COMMUNIST” Chinese government, er, companies, this rude awakening has hit them in the face with a two by four:

China buyers defer raw material cargos

(click on the link to read the story in full- Subscription required)

In this story from the UK’s Financial Times, the story by Javier Blas in Singapore and Jack Farchy in the London bureau hits a massive strike of reminiscent terror with this extract:

The deferrals and defaults have only emerged in the last few days, traders said, and have contributed to a drop in iron ore and coal prices.

“We have some clients in China asking us this week to defer volumes,” said a senior executive with a global commodities trading house, who warned that consumers were cautious. “China is hand to mouth at the moment.”

A senior executive at another large trading house also confirmed there had been defaults and deferrals in both thermal coal and iron ore.

Oops. Unfortunately for American and especially European traders we have not seen activity or actions like this since way, way, way, way, back in history.

Well, 2008 to be exact.

Have a nice flashback day!

[vector7]

US exempts China from Iran sanctions

The US gave China a six-month reprieve from Iran financial sanctions last night, avoiding a diplomatic spat with a country whose support it needs to try to quell violence in Syria and rein in Tehran's nuclear ambitions.

With Thursday's decision to grant exceptions to China, which buys up to a fifth of Iran's oil exports, and Singapore, which buys Iranian fuel oil, the Obama administration has now spared all 20 of Iran's major oil buyers from its unilateral sanctions.

The sanctions themselves are designed to pressure Iran to curb its nuclear program, which the West believes aims to develop nuclear weapons but which Tehran says is for peaceful purposes such as generating electricity and medical isotopes.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said both China and Singapore earned the reprieve by cutting imports of Iranian crude and argued the reductions by all 20 countries showed that Iran was paying a high price for its nuclear program.

More:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...sanctions.html

[vector7]

Companion Thread:

• Is Barack Obama a real Manchurian candidate?

Bombshell: Obama.com Owned by Bundler in Shanghai with Business Ties to Chinese Government



by Wynton Hall 8 Oct 2012, 5:14 AM PDT

In an explosive report set to send shockwaves through official Washington, the Government Accountability Institute (GAI) released a 108-page GAI investigation into the threat of foreign and fraudulent Internet campaign donations in U.S. federal elections (visit campaignfundingrisks.com to download the full report).

Breitbart News obtained an advance copy of the bombshell report which reveals that the Obama.com website is not owned by the president’s campaign but rather by Obama bundler Robert Roche, a U.S. citizen living in Shanghai, China. Roche is the chairman of a Chinese infomercial company, Acorn International, with ties to state-controlled banks that allow it to “gain revenue through credit card transactions with Chinese banks.”

There’s more.

The unusual Obama.com website redirects traffic directly to a donation page on the Obama campaign’s official website, my.barackobama.com, which does not require donors tob enter their credit card security code (known as the CVV code), thereby increasing the likelihood of foreign or fraudulent donations. The website is managed by a small web development firm, Wicked Global, in Maine. One of Wicked Global’s employees, Greg Dorr, lists on his LinkedIn page his additional employment with Peace Action Maine and Maine Voices for Palestinian Rights. According to the GAI report, 68 percent of all Internet traffic to Obama.com comes from foreign visitors.

And still more.

In 2011, Mr. Roche obtained one of the most sought-after pieces of real estate in Washington, DC: a seat at the head table for President Obama’s State Dinner for Chinese President Hu Jintao. How Roche—a man whose infomercial company hawks fitness equipment, cell phones, and breast enhancement products—landed a seat alongside Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former President Bill Clinton, Sen. John Kerry, former President Jimmy Carter, and Chinese President Hu Jintao remains unclear.

Since 2009, White House Visitor Logs list the name Robert Roche at least 19 times, despite the fact Mr. Roche’s primary residence is in China.
Mr. Roche, who is originally from Chicago, is a co-chair of the Technology Initiative for the Obama campaign.

According to Acorn International’s prospectus, the success of Mr. Roche’s company hinges on maintaining access to state-run media and “preferential tax treatments and subsidies” doled out by the People’s Republic of China (PRC):

ON BREITBART TV

[Malsua]

Big surprise, Pali and Chinese influences on our Manchurian candidate intent on subverting the wealth and affluence of the US citizen.

[American Patriot]

Not a surprise, but it is a big part of the stuff that was planned to be released today.

[vector7]

US has no plans to defend Diaoyu islands with Japan

Staff Reporter
2013-11-03
16:07 (GMT+8)



Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying. (Photo/CNS)

Pentagon spokesman LT Col Jeff Pool said the United States does not have a joint operation plan with Japan to defend the disputed Diaoyu (Senkaku or Diaoyutai) islands from a potential Chinese attack, reports the state-run China News Service.

The spokeman made the comments during a press conference held in Washington DC on Nov. 1, after being asked to discuss whether the United States would support Japan against a People's Liberation Army assault over the islands.

Tokyo-based Kyodo News reported on Sep. 12 that the US reaffirmed its support for Japan over the islands during a meeting between William Burns, the US deputy secretary of state, and Natsuo Yamaguchi, a member of Japanese House of Councillors in Washington in September. At the meeting, Burns suggested that the islands are covered within the US-Japan Security Treaty, the Kyodo News said.

However, Pool dismissed the Japanese report and emphasized that it is not the policy of the US government to take any side regarding territorial disputes between China and Japan. He added that the United States instead encourages both sides to seek a peaceful solution. Echoing Pool, US state department spokeswoman Jen Psaki also said that the United States takes no position on the sovereignty issue over the islands.

Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said that she received similar clarifications from the US government during the press conference held on Nov. 1. There are currently no plans for the US military to support the Japan Self Defense Force in a military confrontation over the Diaoyu islands. However, the United States is obligated to defend the islands if attacked by China as they are covered by the US-Japan Security Treaty, sources said.

The Diaoyu islands, known in Japan as the Senkaku islands and in Taiwan as the Diaoyutai islands, are an island chain in the East China Sea claimed by the three parties but controlled by Japan, which nationalized three of the islands in September last year, a move condemned by Beijing as an illegal appropriation of Chinese territory.

References:

Hua Chunying　　華春瑩

http://www.wantchinatimes.com/news-s...00076&cid=1101

[Avvakum]

US has no plans to defend Diaoyu islands with Japan

Staff Reporter
2013-11-03
16:07 (GMT+8)



Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying. (Photo/CNS)

Pentagon spokesman LT Col Jeff Pool said the United States does not have a joint operation plan with Japan to defend the disputed Diaoyu (Senkaku or Diaoyutai) islands from a potential Chinese attack, reports the state-run China News Service.

The spokeman made the comments during a press conference held in Washington DC on Nov. 1, after being asked to discuss whether the United States would support Japan against a People's Liberation Army assault over the islands.

Tokyo-based Kyodo News reported on Sep. 12 that the US reaffirmed its support for Japan over the islands during a meeting between William Burns, the US deputy secretary of state, and Natsuo Yamaguchi, a member of Japanese House of Councillors in Washington in September. At the meeting, Burns suggested that the islands are covered within the US-Japan Security Treaty, the Kyodo News said.

However, Pool dismissed the Japanese report and emphasized that it is not the policy of the US government to take any side regarding territorial disputes between China and Japan. He added that the United States instead encourages both sides to seek a peaceful solution. Echoing Pool, US state department spokeswoman Jen Psaki also said that the United States takes no position on the sovereignty issue over the islands.

Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said that she received similar clarifications from the US government during the press conference held on Nov. 1. There are currently no plans for the US military to support the Japan Self Defense Force in a military confrontation over the Diaoyu islands. However, the United States is obligated to defend the islands if attacked by China as they are covered by the US-Japan Security Treaty, sources said.

The Diaoyu islands, known in Japan as the Senkaku islands and in Taiwan as the Diaoyutai islands, are an island chain in the East China Sea claimed by the three parties but controlled by Japan, which nationalized three of the islands in September last year, a move condemned by Beijing as an illegal appropriation of Chinese territory.

References:

Hua Chunying　　華春瑩

http://www.wantchinatimes.com/news-s...00076&cid=1101

Got that Japan? You're on your own. No country on earth can count on the USA anymore for it's national defense.