Special report: China flexed its muscles using U.S. Treasuries - Reuters

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

Gosh, you reckon that info like this is why our "transparent" government is so frantic to shut up whistleblowers like Manning and Wikileaks?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110217/bs_nm/us_wiki_china_treasury

As the U.S. Federal Reserve grappled with the aftershocks of financial crisis, the Chinese, like many others, suffered huge losses from their investments in American financial firms -- from Lehman Brothers to the Primary Reserve Fund, the money market fund that broke the buck.

The cables, obtained by WikiLeaks, show that escalating Chinese pressure prompted a procession of soothing visits from the U.S.Treasury Department. In one striking instance, a top Chinese money manager directly asked U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner for a favor.

In June, 2009, the head of China's powerful sovereign wealth fund met with Geithner and requested that he lean on regulators at the U.S. Federal Reserve to speed up the approval of its $1.2 billion investment in Morgan Stanley, according to the cables, which were provided to Reuters by a third party.

Although the cables do not mention if Geithner took any action, China's deal to buy Morgan Stanley shares was announced the very next day.

[midnight]

1. K&R

[damntexdem]

6. Hmm, maybe the Social Security Trust Fund should get into this game.

;-)

[bighart]

2. Got to love this line:

"Although the cables do not mention if Geithner took any action, China's deal to buy Morgan Stanley shares was announced the very next day."
Nothing to see here, it's merely coincidence that the approval happened mere hours later.

[xchrom]

3. +1

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

5. And, this line is fun, too.

The two Treasury officials to whom the cables were addressed, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Asia Robert Dohner and Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Monetary and Financial Policy Mark Sobel, declined through a spokesperson to comment for this story. The State Department also declined to comment.

[Uncle Joe]

7. It was just a cosmic coincidence.

Yea that's the ticket... a cosmic coincidence.

[jannyk]

4. Kick & Rec!

[PA Democrat]

8. Timmeh, just doing the people's business....

the People's Republic of China, that is. :mad:

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

9. Kick.