yasheng huang, what is going on in these meetings in beijing?lot like attempts at mutual reassurance? >> well, i think there are several things going on. vice president biden wases to engage his chinese-- the other side-- the-- on the other side who is going to be the president of the country come 2013. the other thing as you pointed out is that he wants to convey to the chinese that the u.s. is going to honor the obligations to the chinese, and the chinese are the biggest holder of the u.s. treasury debt. so that assurance is very, very important. i'm not sure how convincing he is, given that his hands are tied by the republicans in the congress, but that assurance is very,important for the united states to convey to the chinese. >> gordon chang what, do you see? we said not very long ago there was a very public scolding of the u.s. in zing how. how do you see it. >> clearly, vice president biden wants to make the chinese comfortable. but we've got to remember that the united states is in trouble in large part because of the global imbalances i