A return to first principles ...

A return to first principles is one of the first acts of an incoming administration.  The Democratic party, in the persons of the Secretary of State is now in the process of revealing its first principles through its operations.  Secretary of State Clinton, speaking of the topics that she planned to raise on her first visit to China, said, "We have to continue to press [China on issues relating to human rights] but our pressing on those issues can't interfere with the global economic crisis, the global climate change crisis and the security crises ... We have to have a dialogue that leads to an understanding and cooperation on each of those." (Source) In one succinct sentence,  human rights are subserviant to economic realities and the requirements of stewardship of the earth.

Whatever the good Secretary had to say, the Chinese were not waiting with bated breath to hear it.  They were diversifying their diplomatic assets, attempting to create closer ties with nations throughout the Southern Hemisphere and strategic regions in the Northern Hemisphere as well.  Their Vice President Xi Jinping is finishing up a tour of Brazil, part of a six-nation tour that "has already taken him to Mexico, Jamaica, Colombia and Venezuela, and will conclude in Malta" (Source)  The deal that he signed included a provisional exchange between the two countries; Brazil provides crude oil to China (over 100 million barrels) and China provides Brazil with a loan of up to ten billion dollars. (That is $10,000,000,000.00)  (Source)

China, it seems, is returning to first principles too.  "[Never] a borrower, [but only] a lender be."