This piece on Bush’s meeting with Chinese President Hu is positively surreal. The gist is, the U.S. is upset because China is:

  • striking oil deals with unsavory regimes (Sudan, Burma, Iran);
  • attempting to increase its geopolitical influence;
  • growing quickly and polluting heavily.

Sound like anybody else you know?

Presumably Bush isn’t going to say flat out, "we don’t want any competition." But what else does it mean?

Update [2006-4-20 15:59:42 by David Roberts]: I should also note that The Grey Lady has a blistering editorial on this very subject.

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