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The communist nation has had a string of embarrassments over the last year, from sending the U.S. dangerous pet food, toys and medicine to outrage over its treatment of Tibet.
The struggling American economy is combining with the dozens of product recalls to make a potent political argument against China, said Geoffrey Garrett, adjunct senior fellow and former president of the Pacific Council on International Policy.
“It was a real opportunity for anyone who was concerned about Chinese trade to say, 'We told you. Not only is it to take jobs away, they don't have appropriate standards,'” Garrett said.
The Chinese government is working hard to clean up its image and manufacturing system. And top economic officials from both countries are meeting next week in Annapolis, in a continuation of long-standing talks to confront the challenges facing their relationship, he said.
“The only place I would give the [Bush] administration lower marks on this, is they have not done a good job explaining to the public why this is the right approach, why more engagement is better,” Garrett said.
China is America’s third-largest trading partner, after Canada and the European Union, and a major buyer of U.S. bonds, giving it an important role that makes it both a vital economic ally and an attractive target for criticism, said Dan Griswold, director of the Center for Trade Policy Studies at the Cato Institute.
“On the whole our relations with China are productive and improving … but there are some real issues we have to work through. ... It's always better talking with the Chinese than making threats,” he said.
dgenz@dcexaminer.com



Comments from Examiner Readers
2:51 PM MST on Thu., Jun. 12, 2008 re: "Wolf says office computers hacked by Chinese sources over past 2 years"
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8:23 AM MST on Thu., Jun. 12, 2008
re: "Wolf says office computers hacked by Chinese sources over past 2 years"
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8:17 AM MST on Thu., Jun. 12, 2008
re: "Wolf says office computers hacked by Chinese sources over past 2 years"
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Examiner Reader said:
Strange that only 3 Republican Representatives,not known for their stance on human rights issues, should havethis problem. Perhaps it is just now being reported because they face stiff challenges in the upcoming election. Why, just yesterday, Rep.Wolf was threatening to withdraw funding to the UN, purportedly because they might be sending a representative to check on Prince William County's(Northern VA)human rights issues. Again, sounds like electioneering. As a long time member of the GOP, I resent these tactics and would like to see more people like Rep.Tom Davis come back to the Party.
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Examiner Reader said:
This information is so old that it is non-news. It can't even be proven that the access was performed by the Chinese without involvement of the ISP the traffic supposedly "originated" from. Just because the traffic originated from an address in China doesn't mean that the true source wasn't another system located in another country daisy chaining connections to hide their trail. Even the dumbest hackers know to do that. If the Chinese gov wanted to hack something they'd probably hack a system in another country first and then use that system to access ours.
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Zephon said:
So it is my understanding that these computers were not up on anti-spyware software updates. That these congressmen went to known web sites with malware on them. And then they blame others for their failure to secure their computers. What fools! Grow up and join the new world. You have to run anti-virus and anti-spyware software, update security patches on your computer, and do not go to sites with malware on them. These congressmen are just trying to drum up anti-China fervor by supporting known anti-chinese groups. China has every right to view these groups the same way Americans view Osama Bin Laden and Al-queda.
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