links for 2007-04-16

Chinese and Japanese students brought together to produce a play soon learned that tensions still divide their nations. So, after initial clashes, they wrote a new play that shies away from historical issues. – via CDT

China has pledged to gradually increase the flexibility of its currency as part of broader policy measures agreed upon by five major economic players to address global economic imbalances.

Framing a “competition” between U.S. and China

China urged the United States on Saturday to show a bit more patience as North Korea appeared likely to miss a deadline to shut down a nuclear reactor.

“There is no question that jobs are being created here in the United States … because of increased exports to China,” said Louis B. Schwartz, president of China Strategies LLC

“The campaign follows complaints filed Tuesday by the U.S. against Beijing in the World Trade Organization over product piracy and market access.”

“I think the ice has melted considerably, but the water remains cold,” China’s ambassador to Japan, Wang Yi, told a Japanese TV news programme on Sunday. “We need to make it warmer and create a big, irreversible flow, that is our challenge.”

“The WHO is a specialized U.N. agency which only sovereign nations can join,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said.