Tony Fratto: Knocking Down the China Myth  Timothy Geithner
Timothy Geithner  If there's one strategic communication goal
Treasury Secretary Geithner should strive to achieve this
weekend in China, it would be to strike down the myth that the
U.S. is beholden to the Chinese because they buy our debt.
Curtain-raising news reports in advance of Secretary Geithner's
trip to Beijing persist in repeating this myth. Reporters can be
forgiven for their error, since it was Secretary of State
Clinton who gave new life to the myth during her own ill-fated
trip to Beijing earlier this yearwhen she begged the Chinese to
keep buying U.S. paper.  We need to be clear about this: the
Chinese do not purchase U.S Treasury securities out of altruism.
And they don't buy them to blackmail American policymakers -
unless American policymakers willingly and foolishly choose to
be blackmailed.  China buys U.S. Treasury paper because it's in
their own best, rational investment interests to do so. In
short, they must.  Because of Chin