One of the most important events this week was President Obama meeting the Dalai Lama. Despite China expressing displeasure at the White House`s decision, the U.S President went ahead with the meeting. A carefully-worded statement issued by the White House said, "The President commended the Dalai Lama`s "Middle Way" approach, his commitment to nonviolence and his pursuit of dialogue with the Chinese government. The President stressed that he has consistently encouraged both sides to engage in direct dialogue to resolve differences and was pleased to hear about the recent resumption of talks."
Interestingly, this week Japan surpassed China as the largest holder of U.S. Treasury securities. The U.S. Treasury Department reported that since China trimmed its U.S. debt holdings by $34.2 billion in December. To date, Japan holds $768.8 billion of U.S. Treasury securities while mainland China holds $755.4 billion worth of it.
New year celebrations continued in Chinese communities throughout the world. A record number of Chinese tourists visited Taiwan over the Lunar New Year. A total of about 40,000 Chinese tourists are expected this year, three times more than the number of tourists for the same season last year. Almost all bed-and-breakfasts in Taiwan were reported to be at their full capacity, especially in eastern Taiwan.
On the sports front, China shone at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, taking gold and silver in figure skating. Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo became the first ever non-European couple to win the gold medal in the Olympic pairs figure skating event. Shen and Zhao`s gold medal is China`s first in figure skating history of Winter Olympic Games. The pair scored a total of 216.57 to snag the gold medal, only 5.16 points ahead of second-place Chinese pair Pang Qing and Tong Jian. Read more about China`s economy, politics and other current events in the Daily Updates section of our website.
In our most recent commentary "A Converging China?" we talk about an important component of China`s rise--its political and economic relations with the rest of the world. In Africa, this engagement has fueled both praise and criticism. Find out about this and other news at our website.
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