Germany’s Merkel in China

German chancellor Angela Merkel is in Beijing for a two-day visit expected to focus on the eurzone crisis, Iran and Syria. Accompanied by a 20 strong trade delegation, she is scheduled to meet President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao.

Biden in China to Defend US Economics

Vice President Joe Biden is in China to meet with officials including Xi Jinping.

Global Political Cartoons: January 15 – 21, 2011

Tunisians say they want a revolution, ‘well, you know, we all want to change the world’.  What’s still not clear is what the Tunisians want to change into.  HU Jintao? He’s the Chinese president WHO went TO Washington TO DO some diplomacy TO WOO NEW sources of MOO-lah.  And Queensland underwater.

• Watch the slideshow
• Subscribe to our multimedia feed on iTunes

US-China summit

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3
Chinese President Hu Jintao has acknowledged that “a lot still needs to be done” in China over human rights. Mr Hu was speaking at a rare joint news conference with President Barack Obama on the first full day of his state visit to the US. Mr Obama said he saw China’s “peaceful rise” as good for the United States. The World’s Mary Kay Magistad has more. Download MP3
In pictures: Chinese President Hu Jintao visit

Reaction in China to Hu’s visit to Washington

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

The BBC Chinese Service is getting some interesting audience responses to President Hu Jintao’s visit to Washington. Anchor Marco Werman discusses the comments with Yuwen Wu, news and current affairs editor with the BBC Chinese Service. Download MP3

Trading with China

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Chinese President Hu Jintao is beginning a state visit to the US today. One thing Hu and President Obama are likely to talk about is getting the Chinese to buy more American goods. The World’s Mary Kay Magistad looks at why China wants to increase domestic consumption, and why that’s a challenge. Download MP3
Mary Kay’s award winning series ‘Created in China’

US-China energy talks

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

A little more than a year ago, the US and China agreed to work on an array of joint research projects for clean energy. Today, that good will and mutual cooperation seems to have fizzled. Anchor Marco Werman speaks with Derek Scissors, China specialist at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, about US-China energy cooperation.Download MP3

Slideshow: China’s solar solution
BBC slideshow: Chinese state visits to US

Clinton speaks on US-China relations

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Chinese President Hu Jintao will be in Washington next week. Today, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke about the American-Chinese relationship. Host Lisa Mullins speaks with Merle Goldman, a research associate at the Fairbank Center for Chinese history at Harvard University to discuss the US-China relationship. Download MP3
Clinton Says U.S. and China at ‘Critical Juncture’

China’s corruption problems

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

The Chinese government has released its first ever report on their fight against corruption. Officials within the Communist Party reportedly spend huge sums on lavish parties. Other problems include embezzlement and bribery. Host Lisa Mullins talks to the BBC’s Martin Patience in Beijing. Download MP3

Working conditions in China

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

The World’s Mary Kay Magistad reports on changing labor conditions in China. Workers there are increasingly pressing their case for higher wages and better work conditions. That means Chinese businesses are having to rethink their profit models. Download MP3(flickr image: Remko Tanis)

• China’s quest for soft power
• Mary Kay’s award winning series ‘Created in China’

China’s quest for soft power

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

China’s power has been growing in recent years – its economic clout, its military capacity, its political influence on the international stage. But there’s one kind of power China’s leaders still crave – soft power. This is the informal influence a country has – through the attractiveness of its culture and values. The World’s Mary Kay Magistad reports from Beijing. Download MP3 (flickr image: d’n'c)

• Mary Kay’s award winning series ‘Created in China’
• Shanghai Expo is China’s new showcase to the world
• Clinton urges China on North Korea

Growing US-China rift over trade and arms

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

China has hit back at the US a day after President Barack Obama promised to take a tougher line with Beijing over currency and trade. Ties between the US and China have been strained over an arms deal with Taiwan. Tensions have also risen over a planned visit to the US by the Dalai Lama. The World’s Matthew Bell takes at look at how strained US-China relations really are. Download MP3

• Matthew Bell’s blog “US-China cage match?”
• BBC coverage
• China criticizes US over Internet freedom
• President Obama to meet with Dalai Lama

Spelling Obama in Chinese, oratory, and chop suey love

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3
In this all-Chinese pod, how to spell Obama in Chinese. Then, the contrasting oratorical styles of presidents Hu and Obama. That’s followed by something on a type of Chinese idiom known as chengyu. Then to the UK, where Confucian philosophy infuses Chinese language classes in five public schools. Finally, poet Marilyn Chin on why she loves the expression chop suey.