recent visit to China. The claims made in the newspaper's for Cheney's visit to China were about nuclear reactors sales. I doubt there is any truth to their official WH press release.
As recently as yesterday, China's PM called the US a whore. I don't think that remark was aimed at US citizenry but at the conductors of US business policies, Bush and Cheney.
China has become a big player in the market for palladium. I imagine Cheney wants to get in on that market either acting as a broker for Carlyle or by creating and brokering partnerships with other US companies.
a brief history of the "new" technology and uses of palladium:
"Mitsui’s Smith believes the forecasts of palladium usage in diesel exhaust catalysis may be a little conservative. He says the diesel market is as important to platinum’s growth as the much-vaunted Chinese jewellery market. “Both (diesels and China) account for around 1 million oz per annum, or about one-third of total demand. And diesel-use plus China accounted for all the growth in platinum demand in the last six years. Any threat to these two growth domains is significant,” he says.
While the switch to palladium was inevitable – or so say most of the commentators – given the near-record platinum prices, JM believed growing diesel car sales would offset any switch to palladium. After all, until Friday, diesel catalysts were a monopoly for platinum. That has now changed and Smith believes the Umicore ‘breakthrough’ will not be limited to 30% to 35% of the diesel catalysis market.
On balance, though, the technological innovation is good news for both markets. “It is a classic win-win situation for both markets,” says one Johannesburg-based platinum analyst. It is a view echoed by Bedford. While the platinum market’s state of perennial under-supply looks only to be exacerbated by ever-increasing demand, palladium faces the dampening effects of oversupply and the legacy mistrust of dominant Russian producers. The use of palladium in auto-catalysts will not only suck up some of the palladium deficit, but will relieve some of the pressure on the platinum market.
The relief will be welcome, given that Chinese jewellery demand for the metal - which is expected to wane as prices rise - has remained stubbornly strong. “Umicore’s announcement will likely be welcomed by South African producers. In the last couple of days both Anglo Platinum and Lonmin have publicly suggested that, far from being a “safety valve”, China is now a perpetual platinum-demand machine even as prices rise,” says Smith, who believes the Umicore announcement has relieved some of the pressure from the market.
For vehicle manufacturers, the $20 saving on each car is marginal to say the least, though they are likely to adopt the new technology once it is proven. Stephen Cheetham, a car-industry analyst at Sanford C Bernstein, told Reuters the new catalyst would not save too much money for manufacturers, as the palladium price would probably increase on the higher demand.
“Palladium and platinum are interchangeable, palladium is not inherently cheaper, they tend to flip flop. Even if there is a price gap now, the increased demand for palladium if automakers make the switch is likely to bid it up so it is not going to save them a whole lot of money," said Cheetham.
Palladium continued to surge upward on Monday as speculators latched onto Friday’s announcement from Belgian metals refiner Umicore, that it had developed a system for using palladium in diesel auto-catalysis. Bids for palladium in mid-day London trade scaled $310/oz, while in Tokyo, palladium futures hit 18-month highs."
http://www.mineweb.net/sections/platinum/314326.htmI would say, Cheney acting as a broker for Carlyle, dissed Putin and tried to undercut any deals or future deals Russia would have with China. The Bush gang have a penchant for pay back. Putin's consistently voting against the US at the UN would, imo, be reason enough for Cheney to attempt to damage trade relations with the Russians and China.
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