Scott Eldridge II reporting:

Well two days of dialogue sure can move quickly. The economic talks between Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and his fellow cabinet leaders and Chinese officials, led by Vice Premier Wu Yi have wrapped up with either consensus on necessary reforms, or China refusing to budge on its positions.

These sorts of talks (strategic economic dialogues, bilateral dialogues, working groups, joint commissions … there are lots of terms for these things) often end with “Fact Sheets” and “Joint Declarations,” parlance for the types of agreements that will be revisited next time a dialogue takes place (in this case May of next year in Washington, D.C.).

But they also shine a light on the way we describe the same conflict from either side of the Pacific.

Take two headlines for the same “wrap-up” style of story.

The Washington Post, has the following headline: China Refuses to Make Commitments on Exchange Rate
Here’s the first paragraph (the lede):

BEIJING, Dec. 15 — China today declined to make any firm commitments regarding changes to its exchange rate, despite continuous pressure from U.S. officials over two days of high-level strategic economic talks.

Xinhua, China’s state news service, has this headline for the same type of story: “China-U.S. first strategic economic dialogue ends” and opens the story with this paragraph:

BEIJING, Dec. 15 (Xinhua) — China and the United States concluded their first strategic economic dialogue here at noon Friday, with “a number of consensus” being reached. The second dialogue will be held in Washington in May next year.

Now, I’m still poking around to see if I can see what was exactly decided, but initial results say both stories are right. China agreed to move its currency, but at a pace it determines is appropriate, and the U.S. agreed to increase its savings rate (the rationale being that more savings equals less purchasing, which would lower the skewed bilateral trade balance between the two countries).
But it is interesting to see the two very distinct ways the stories are being put out there.

More later ….