Many members of Congress agree that it is time to stop playing nice with China.  Yet, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's first couple of days in the country, preceding the Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED) to begin today, were not in anyway indicative of the path that certain members of Congress hoped the talks would take. At the Shanghai World Expo on Saturday, Clinton "avoided any public discussion of the issues that will occupy her in Beijing, including North Korea's suspected sinking of a South Korean warship, Iran's nuclear program, and U.S. calls for China to allow its currency to appreciate." Instead, she hung out at the U.S. pavillion, where there was a screening of a film on American life, and handed teddy bears out to children in the audience. According to Reuters, the films shown in the U.S. pavillion made no explicit reference to pressing issues of U.S. concern with regard to China such as democracy, human rights, or freedom of religion. But the worst part about Clinton's Saturday jaunt in Shanghai represents a greater flaw in U.S.-China trade relations:

The U.S. exhibit ends with a gift shop where a great many products -- from teddy bears and stuffed bison to silver lapel pins and pink cowboy hats -- were all marked "Made in China."

Read more here and stay tuned for our coverage of the S&ED. Also, see The 15 Numbers You Need to Know while evaluating the talks in Beijing today and tomorrow.