Clinton Visits Asia First, Asserting China Priority (WSJ 2.13.09) http://tinyurl.com/c5u68f
No surprise here. Topics of discussion will include economic, environmental and security issues. Planned announcement of U.S. funding of "Green Projects" in China. Recommended article.

Further reading: China's Currency Problems (Forbes.com 5.03.07) http://tinyurl.com/dnxadh
Of particular note: "According to Paulson, if Beijing works to establish competitive and efficient capital markets, this will then lay the groundwork for a currency that is in fact market determined."

"Eswar Prasad, a professor of trade policy at Cornell University, agrees with Paulson that the U.S. should work to help China establish a sound financial system instead of narrowly focusing on the exchange rate between the yuan and the dollar."

"'What is really important is for China to have balanced economic growth,' he says. Allowing the yuan to float freely could have bad implications if the country's financial system is not in good shape. If people quickly pulled their money out of China, it could send foreign exchange markets haywire. Prasad says the best approach for China is to have a flexible exchange rate while managing its growth."

"One of the first rules in diplomacy--economic or otherwise--is to do no harm. At the moment, it doesn't appear that the dollar-yuan exchange rate is having an enormously harmful effect on the broad U.S. economy. The administration has recently levied several complaints against China at the World Trade Organization for its trade policies, and it has slapped anti-subsidy tariffs on some Chinese goods. For now, this seems to be the best approach to dealing with, rather than meddling with, its currency." - Brian Wingfield, Washington Bureau Chief, Forbes.com

Also: China's Exchange Rate Policy: The Case Against Abandoning the Dollar Peg and related research papers
http://tinyurl.com/apashz