Hilary Clinton today begins her first trip abroad as secretary of state, on an Asian tour intended to strengthen U.S.-Asia, and particularly U.S-China, relations. While discussions will focus primarily on economic matters (and for good reason!), Clinton also hopes to spur dialogue on the topic of climate change with the Chinese, who have now become the world's biggest emitters of greenhouse gases (for a slightly more detailed outline of Clinton's goals, see here).
This will likely be an interesting trip, both for personal and policy reasons. If you recall, both Obama and Clinton used China as a punching bag during the presidential primaries, and the Chinese have been a bit wary of her ever since - and arguably before then, too. During the 1995 U.N. Fourth World Conference on Women, she blasted China for its atrocious human rights record, a topic about which she remains particularly passionate. That said, this trip could either do well to move U.S-China relations in a positive direction.... or do quite the opposite.