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July 1, 2008: U.S. Representatives Chris Smith and Frank Wolf allege that the Chinese government prevented lawyers and human rights activists from meeting with them in China. Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao replies that intervention in China’s internal affairs undermines bilateral relations. July 2, 2008: China’s Ministry of Commerce expresses dissatisfaction with U.S. Department of Commerce’s ruling that production of laminated woven sacks received significant government subsidies. July 2, 2008: Premier Wen Jiabao meets USAID Administrator and Director of U.S. Foreign Assistance Henrietta Fore and Johnson & Johnson CEO William Weldon in Beijing. July 9, 2008: President Hu Jintao meets with President George W. Bush in Japan and discusses bilateral ties, the Six-Party Talks, and Taiwan. ∗ Chronology by CSIS interns Tiffany Ma and See-won Byun U.S.-China Relations 30 October 2008 July 9, 2008: The U.S. International Trade Commission unanimously votes in favor of antidumping duties on more than $450 million of steel nail imports from China. July 10, 2008: The State Department announces that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will be attending the closing ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics. July 11, 2008: the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agency charges more than 1,000 cargo containers of clothing made in China that were illegally exported under the names of other countries (valued over $80 million) to Chinese import quotas. July 11, 2008: Speaking at a luncheon hosted by American Chamber of Commerce and the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce, U.S. Consul General in Hong Kong and Macao James Cunningham says, “Hong Kong today is not only thriving but full of promise.” July 11, 2008: A Virginia court sentences a former Pentagon analyst to almost five years in prison for passing U.S. military information to a Chinese spy. July 15, 2008: Air China announces that it will purchase 45 Boeing aircraft for $6.3 billion. July 15, 2008: U.S. Pacific Command Commander Adm. Timothy Keating hosts Lt. Gen. Zhang Qinsheng, commander of China’s Guangzhou Military Region, at PACOM headquarters where Zhang observes the initial staging of the 9-nation biennial RIMPAC military exercises. They agree to conduct two bilateral humanitarian assistance and disaster response exercises. July 17, 2008: U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab calls on China to “step up and play a leadership role” in the upcoming Doha Round of the World Trade Organization Talks. July 18, 2008: The U.S. accuses China of dumping laminated woven sacks on the U.S. and places countervailing duty and antidumping duty orders on imports of the product from China. July 18, 2008: A joint Chinese and U.S. investigation does not find the substance in a Chinese-produced blood thinner that was tied to several deaths in the U.S. July 18, 2008: A WTO dispute panel confirms the judgment that China has violated fair trade rules by discriminating against imported auto parts, ruling in favor of the U.S. EU, and Canada. July 28, 3008: The Chinese Ambassador to the WTO in Geneva Sun Zhenyu urges the U.S. to demonstrate flexibility to avoid failure of the Doha Round of talks. July 28, 2008: Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi meets Secretary Rice in Washington DC. July 29, 2008: Foreign Minister Yang meets President Bush at the White House and presides at the opening of the new Chinese Embassy in Washington DC. U.S.-China Relations 31 October 2008 July 30, 2008: The U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly passes a resolution calling on China to stop its human rights violations immediately and to fulfill its promise to grant media freedom during the Olympic Games. Aug. 1, 2008: President Hu Jintao writes a letter to U.S. high schools thanking them for their support in the aftermath of the May earthquake in Sichuan. Aug. 4, 2008: State Department spokesperson Gonzales Gallegos condemns attacks in China’s Xinjiang region that killed 16 policemen. Aug. 5, 2008: The U.S. Federal Reserve allows the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China to open its first U.S. branch in New York. Aug. 7, 2008: President Bush delivers a speech on U.S. Asia policy at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Center in Bangkok. Aug. 8, 2008: President and Laura Bush attend the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics. Aug. 8, 2008: President George W. Bush and former President George H.W. Bush open the new U.S. Embassy in Beijing. Aug. 8, 2008: A U.S. District court sentences a Taiwan-born U.S. national to 15 years in prison for passing U.S. military secrets to China through an unnamed Chinese agent. Aug. 8, 2008: The U.S. National Counterintelligence Executive warns travelers to the Beijing Olympics and elsewhere to expect cyberspying and other breaches of cyber security. Aug. 9, 2008: A U.S. tourist is stabbed to death in Beijing. Chinese Vice Foreign Minister He Yafei visits the victim’s wife, who was injured, in the hospital. Aug. 10, 2008: President Bush meets with President Hu Jintao and Vice President Xi Jinping and attends a church service in Beijing. Aug. 11, 2008: Bill Gates meets with Chinese State Councilor Liu Yandong in Beijing and agrees to stronger cooperation between Microsoft and China’s science and education sectors. Aug. 13, 2008: Katharine Fredriksen, the acting assistant secretary for the Office of Policy and International Affairs at the Department of Energy, testifies before a Congressional hearing that energy cooperation with China will bolster bilateral relations. Aug. 15, 2008: New U.S. Consul General in Hong Kong and Macao Joseph R. Donovan Jr. assumes his post. Aug. 18, 2008: Chinese authorities in Kunming detain four members of a U.S. Christian group who were carrying 300 bibles. U.S.-China Relations 32 October 2008 Aug. 19, 2008: Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson says that he welcomes Chinese efforts at currency appreciation and calls for greater Chinese investment in the U.S. Aug. 19, 2008: The White House says that Secretary Rice will not attend the closing ceremonies at the Beijing Olympics because of the Russia-Georgia conflict. Aug. 20, 2008: A U.S. firm pleads guilty in Washington to transferring information on unmanned aerial weapons system to a Chinese national. Aug. 23, 2008: Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao leads the U.S. delegation to the closing ceremony of the Olympic Games. She also meets Premier Wen Jiabao and delivers a speech at Jiaotong University in Shanghai. Aug. 24, 2008: Following calls by U.S. Ambassador to China Clark Randt for their release, eight U.S. citizens who were sentenced to 10 days of administrative detention for their involvement in pro-Tibet protests, are deported. Aug. 25, 2008: White House spokesman Tony Fratto expresses disappointment that China “did not take the full opportunity that was offered to them while the world was watching during the Olympics” to be more open and allow more freedom of speech and religion. Aug. 29, 2008: For the first time the CCP Central Committee sends two observers to attend the U.S. Democratic Party Convention. Sept. 3, 2008: A retired professor of electrical engineering at the University of Tennesse is convicted of violating U.S. arms export controls and passing sensitive data to a Chinese national. Sept. 3, 2008: President Hu Jintao sends a message of sympathy to President Bush over losses caused by Hurricane Gustav. Sept. 3, 2008: On a trade mission to China, Assistant Commerce Secretary David Bohigian says that China’s environmental protection and renewable energy markets offers major opportunities for U.S. businesses. Sept. 4, 2008: Chinese regulators begin the first high-profile test of Beijing’s anti-monopoly law in Coca Cola’s $2.4 billion takeover bid of China’s Huiyuan Juice Group, the largest foreign takeover of a Chinese company, if approved. Sept. 5, 2008: Beijing announces that it will offer cash assistance totalling $500,000 to the U.S., Cuba, and Jamaica for Hurricane Gustav relief efforts. The Red Cross Society of China also announces cash aid to the three affected countries. Sept. 8, 2008: Vice President Xi Jinping meets the U.S. presidential delegation to the Beijing Paralympics led by Secretary of Veterans Affairs James Peake. U.S.-China Relations 33 October 2008 Sept. 15, 2008: The U.S.-China Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade (JCCT) convenes at the Richard Nixon presidential library in California. Sept. 15, 2008: China files an appeal at the World Trade Organization, challenging the ruling in favor of the U.S., European Union and Canada in a dispute over car parts. Sept. 15, 2008: Presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama in a publication of the American Chamber of Commerce in China call for closer U.S.-China cooperation on trade, the environment, and nuclear proliferation. Sept. 16, 2008: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issues a public warning on tainted baby formula from China after a nationwide scandal in China. Sept. 19, 2008: Beijing files complaints under the WTO dispute settlement mechanism over U.S. anti-dumping and countervailing measures imposed on Chinese-made steel pipes, tires, and laminated woven sacks. Sept. 19, 2008: The State Department releases the International Religious Freedom Report 2008, which charges that China’s repression of religious freedom has intensified over the past year. Sept. 19, 2008: The weeklong EU-U.S.-China Initiative on Consumer Product Safety Compliance begins in Beijing. Sept. 20, 2008: The Department of Homeland Security releases a report indicating that there are 290,000 unauthorized Chinese immigrants residing in the U.S. as of January 2007, an estimated 49 percent increase since 2000. Sept. 20-22, 2008: Chen Zhili, vice-chairwoman of the Standing Committee of China’s National People’s Congress, has meetings with Sen. Daniel Inouye and Rep. Joseph Crowley in Washington and attends the White House Conference on Global Literacy in New York. Sept. 21, 2008: President Hu and President Bush discuss bilateral relations, North Korea, and the financial crisis in the U.S. by phone. Sept. 22, 2008: Foreign Minister Yang and Secretary Rice meet on the sidelines of the 63rd session of the UN General Assembly. Sept. 22-24, 2008: Premier Wen Jiabao delivers a speech at the National Committee for U.S.-China Relations and attends a UN meeting on the Millennium Development Goals and the 63rd UN General Assembly. Sept. 23, 2008: Foreign Ministry spokesperson Jiang Yu rejects U.S. claims on China’s religious policy by the State Department’s International Religious Freedom Report 2008, saying it “meddled in China’s internal affairs.” U.S.-China Relations 34 October 2008 Sept. 24, 2008: Richard Raymond, head of the Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Services, says that China’s widening contaminated milk scandal may delay the approval of Chinese meat exports to the U.S. Sept. 25, 2008: Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao urges the U.S. “not to support Tibet independence and stop interfering in China’s internal affairs” after U.S. leaders talk with the Dalai Lama and meet his representative in the U.S. Sept. 26, 2008: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announces that some instant coffee and tea drinks containing China-made nondairy creamer have been recalled for fear of contamination, the first U.S. recall in response to the poisoned milk scandal. Sept. 28, 2008: Premier Wen Jiabao tells CNN that “if anything goes wrong in the U.S. financial sector, we are anxious about the safety and security of Chinese capital,” adding that world leaders “should join hands and meet the crisis together.” Sept. 28, 2008: At the World Economic Forum in Tianjin, China Banking Regulatory Commission Chairman Liu Mingkang calls U.S. lending standards before the credit crisis “ridiculous” and says that the world can learn from China’s more cautious system.