08/18/2011
Vice President Joe Biden arrived in China yesterday to begin a five-day trip aimed at reassuring leaders there of the stability of the U.S. economy and to begin building a relationship with that country’s most likely next president, Xi Jinping. The visit to the largest foreign creditor to the United States falls right after the downgrade of the U.S. credit rating by Standard & Poor’s, and just days after the Financial Times reported that Pakistan gave Chinese officials access to the wreckage of the top-secret U.S. stealth helicopter that crashed in the compound of Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad during the U.S. raid in May. According to the report, an unnamed U.S. intelligence official said Chinese engineers were allowed to photograph the wreckage and retrieve a sample of the special stealth "skin" that allowed the helicopter to enter Pakistan undetected by radar. Meanwhile, Chinese officials have recently complained to the United States about its continued surveillance flights near the Chinese coast. But Admiral Mike Mullen, the chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the Pentagon, has vowed to continue the flights, which include the use of U-2 spy planes. To discuss the role espionage plays in the complex relationship between China and the United States, we speak with prominent national intelligence journalist David Wise, author of the new book "Tiger Trap: America’s Secret Spy War with China." [includes rush transcript]
Source: http://www.democracynow.org/2011/8/18/as_biden_visits_china_author_david
