The US Vice President, Joe Biden, has attended a US-China business dialogue meeting in Beijing along with the Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping. The meeting forms part of a week-long visit from the US Vice President aimed at smoothing over cracks in the relationship between the United States and China following the downgrade of US debt.
China Ocean Shipping (Group) Company, Bank of China, Lenovo, General Motors, J.P. Morgan, and the American Chamber of Commerce in China were all present for the confidence building exercise. The US Vice President also met the National People’s Congress Chair, Wu Bangguo, to talk about job creation.
Mr Biden took lunch with family members, inviting the new Ambassador to China, Gary Locke and his wife Mona, to join him. The US Vice President also met with the Georgetown men’s basketball team at the Olympic Sports Center who were scheduled to play against the Shanxi Zhongyu Brave Dragons.
According to the Chinese government, China remains the largest foreign holder of US debt with around $1.165 trillion in US Treasury securities as of June 2011. The downgrade of the US credit rating by Standard & Poor disproportionately affects Chinese investment in securities.
