Chinese vice president Xi Jinping, the man expected to become China's top leader in the fall, is in Washington this week as part of a five-day trip to the U.S. The visit is expected to set the tone for bilateral relations over the next decade, particularly where economic ties are concerned. On Wednesday, he'll head to the city of Muscantine, Iowa, to reunite with a family he visited there in 1985 and to sign a trade agreement with soybean farmers there.

James Fallows of The Atlantic magazine is currently in Beijing, but he has lived and worked in Japan. He also witnessed the powerful earthquake that hit China in 2008. China, still scarred by the 2008 Sichuan quake, has expressed admiration for the way that Japan has responded to Friday's earthquake. Although the relationship between China and Japan strained, many Chinese have expressed compassion for the country.

The announcement that President Barack Obama would be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize this year came as a surprise to many – including the president, apparently – and inspired criticism that his record thus far hasn't justified such an award. How can President Obama show from this point forward that he deserves the Peace Prize?  To help answer that is David Sanger, The New York Times chief Washington correspondent; and James Fallows, former presidential speechwriter and a contributor for the Atlantic.

China owns the lion's share of American debt. How is the recession here affecting the economy in China?