31 July 2009

Official Will Answer Questions on U.S.-China Economic Relations

August 11 CO.NX webchat with the State Department’s Shawn Flatt

When U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited China in February, she said, “It is essential that the United States and China have a positive, cooperative relationship.” When U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner visited China in May, he said, “China and the United States individually, and together, are so important in the global economy and financial system that what we do has a direct impact on the stability and strength of the international economic system.” He also told the Chinese, "The effectiveness of U.S. policies will depend in part on China's, and the effectiveness of yours on ours."

Why is this economic relationship so important? U.S. State Department official Shawn Flatt will give a short presentation on U.S.-China economic relations and answer your questions about the relationship in a CO.NX webchat on August 11 at 8 a.m. EDT (12:00 GMT).

Shawn Flatt is the acting economic chief in the State Department's Office of Chinese and Mongolian Affairs. He joined the department in 1995, and before serving on the China desk, he was deputy economic counselor/petroleum attaché in Venezuela, 2005–2008; economic officer (information technology and intellectual property rights) in Japan, 2002–2005; assistant financial attaché in Mexico, 1997–2000; and vice consul/economic officer in the Dominican Republic, 1995–1997. He holds an LLM in European community law from Edinburgh University, a J.D. from Duke University School of Law and a B.S. in finance from the University of Illinois. Before joining the State Department, he worked briefly as a bank examiner at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.

If you would like to participate in this webchat, please go to http://statedept.connectsolutions.com/china. No registration is needed. Simply choose "Enter as a Guest," type in your preferred screen name, and join the discussion. We accept questions and comments in advance of, and at any time during, the program.

The transcript of this webchat will be available on America.gov’s webchat page, where information about upcoming webchats is also available.