Expectations are low for the Sino-American Strategic and Economic Dialogue under way in Beijing. China has telegraphed its reluctance to move on the renminbi while public finances in Europe, its biggest export market, are in a mess. Snarling between the Koreas, meanwhile, seems a more urgent global skirmish than any between the G2. Even so, observers might have hoped for a little more intellectual honesty from Tim Geithner. There is little evidence to support the US Treasury secretary's claim that “it looks as if there has been a durable shift towards domestic consumption in China”.
對于正在北京舉行的中美戰略與經濟對話，人們期望不高。在歐洲這個中國最大出口市場的公共財政狀況一團糟的時候，中國早已流露出不愿改變匯率政策的態度。與此同時，韓朝之間的緊張局勢，似乎是中美兩個大國之間比什么都緊迫的全球小沖突。即便如此，觀察人士原本也許期盼從蒂姆?蓋特納(Tim Geithner)那里得到略微更多一些的“學術誠實”，因為沒有什么證據可以支持這位美國財長的說法，即“中國已經發生了轉向國內消費的持久轉變”。