Betwixt Beijing and Washington

So the Asia-Europe summit in Beijing produced a series of "recommendations" that countries will bring with them to the G-20 meeting in Washington in November but fell short of generating any real solutions to the global financial crisis.

It was interesting to read in reports that attendees were agreeing that there would have to be "trans-Atlantic" buy-in--although I am sure that most TWR readers by now are aware of the People's Daily editorial that bluntly suggested that European and Asian countries settle their trade accounts not by using dollars but by using a basket of other currencies, starting with the euro. But for now the dollar's status as the international reserve currency, although weakened, reamins intact.

Chua Chin Hon, Beijing bureau chief for the Straits Times, has an interesting comment today, "Why China may not save the world, about some of the limits on China's ability or even interest in displacing the United States.