Ruth Kirchner

Beijing comes under new criticism today for its steadily-rising defense budget. And that's just on the surface. It's accused of an aggressive military build-up: unknown amounts of weapons purchases and research not included in the official budget.

Treasury Secy. Henry Paulson and Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke went to China for what they called a strategic economic dialogue. But somebody apparently forgot to tell the Chinese.Ruth Kirchner reports.

Ben Bernanke got out his best Fed-Chairman-speak to call for what most U.S. officials want: a rise in the value of China's currency. Ruth Kirchner reports.

Washington accuses Beijing of keeping the value of its currency artificially low, making imports from China unfairly cheap. China says the U.S. fails to recognize the headway it's making. Ruth Kirchner reports.

The U.S. trade delegation in China is off to an amicable start, but the mood may change tomorrow when the U.S. presents its list of complaints. Ruth Kirchner reports.

China's domestic banking market opened to full foreign competition today, so foreign banks will be able to offer their services in the local currency, the Yuan, for the first time. Ruth Kirchner reports.

NYSE chief John Thain is in China this week talking with firms that might be ready for overseas listings. But he has some hurdles to clear to convince them to list in New York. Ruth Kirchner reports.

China has announced long-awaited rules governing the entrance of foreign banks into its lucrative retail banking market. Ruth Kirchner reports.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez this morning urged business leaders in Beijing to do more to crackdown on piracy and intellectual property theft. Ruth Kirchner reports.

U.S. companies in China continue to make some nice profits, but they are increasingly finding that it's difficult to staff their operations there with qualified workers. Ruth Kirchner reports.