Hu's Visit and Katerina

Frank Ching in the South China Morning Post writes:

Hurricane Katrina has claimed thousands of lives and caused damage that may well amount to more than US$100 billion. But its biggest diplomatic casualty was the long-anticipated visit by Hu Jintao to Washington, originally scheduled for today - the first such visit since he took over the presidency in 2003.

However, the postponement is not necessarily a bad thing. US President George W. Bush is preoccupied with the natural disaster and is in no mood to exchange pleasantries with a visiting head of state and, more importantly, is not in the proper frame of mind to discuss the many issues that beset the bilateral relationship.

To read more:
http://columns.scmp.com/colart/fchina/ZZZ905RH9DE.html