Today is the fiftieth anniversary of the Tibetan uprising that forced the Dalai Lama into exile. Last year’s anniversary was marked by riots and protests, but this year, the Chinese government cracked down on any potential political unrest. The Takeaway talks to Nicholas Kristof of The New York Times about the future of Tibet and what the role the U.S. can play in resolving the conflict between China and Tibet.

The Takeaway covers this week's hot button items. Among these are President Obama's lift on restrictions to federally-funded stem cell research, the government's spending bill, politicizing the recession, mortgage crackdown, market research on China, President Obama's visit to Turkey and a "card check" legislation for unions. Joining the discussion is Marcus Mabry, international business editor at the New York Times and Todd Zwillich, a reporter for Capitol News Connection.

China's once-white-hot economic growth is cooling and an ambitious spending plan outlined yesterday has not convinced everyone that the nation can bounce back. Premier Wen Jiabao recently said that 2009 may be China's most difficult year for economic development since the start of the 21st century.

Today is the Tibetan New Year, but the Dalai Lama has put celebrations on hold. He's called instead for a commemoration of those killed in a crackdown on demonstrators on this holiday last year. The ongoing conflict with China over autonomy for Tibet is complicating the question of who will succeed the Dalai Lama, who is 74, with the Chinese government insisting that it has the right to designate his next reincarnation. Robert Thurman, a professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist studies at Columbia University and author of Why the Dalai Lama Matters joins John and Jerome with a look at how this transition is likely to unfold.

On Friday, Hillary Clinton arrives in Beijing for talks with China’s leaders. This is the first visit to China by a senior member of the Obama administration. Everything from the economy, climate change, trade and human rights is on the table. To talk us through the issues facing China-U.S. relations, we’re joined by Cheng Li who is research director and senior fellow at the China Centre at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. For the view from China, we turn to the BBC's Quentin Somerville in Beijing.

China's economy continues to take hits as reports are in that their imports and exports fell for a third straight month. As China's population buys less, a recession looms and it is leaving over 20 million rural workers in China unemployed. For more, we are joined by the BBC's Chris Hogg who is in Shanghai.

President Obama may have ordered that the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba be closed by the end of the year and the detainees either tried or freed. But for some inmates being set free does not mean being able to go home. One population in particular is stuck in limbo. Seventeen ethnic Chinese Uighurs can not be sent back to China for fears they would face persecution by their home government. But China doesn’t want them to go anywhere else, either. The Takeaway talks to George Clarke, lawyer with Miller & Chevalier, who is representing two of the 17 Chinese Uighurs in custody at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Over twenty million rural migrant workers in China have lost their jobs because of economic hard times and the Chinese government is increasingly worried that rising job losses will cause social unrest. The Takeaway talks with Dr. Kerry Brown, a senior fellow in Asia research at Chatham House.

China, the world's third-largest economy, has recorded its lowest rate of growth for seven years. The figure fell to nine percent in 2008. Growth slowed even more in the final quarter, falling to less than seven percent. Does this mean that the boom years in China are truly over? Chris Hogg, the BBC correspondent, joins us from Shanghai, China to discuss.

China's family planning commission has released a survey saying that 70% of Chinese women wish they could have two babies or more partially because they worry that an only child is likely to become lonely or spoiled. The commission just announced the survey, but there is a twist, it was conducted in 2006, but is only being released now. For more on the survey and what it might mean for China's one-child policy, we're joined by Quentin Sommerville, the BBC's Beijing Correspondent.

The American economic boom couldn't have happened without China's willingness to buy up American debt. While the American economy has hit a road bump (or maybe a pothole), China has been able to avoid the same market turmoil. Until now. With a downturn in its own economy, China isn't interested in acquiring any more American debt and that is having a profound impact on our ability to borrow. New York Times' reporter Keith Bradsher is following this story in Hong Kong.

Chinese state media reports four milk company executives and five others have gone on trial in connection with the melamine-tainted milk scandal. Sanlu, the company at the center of the scandal, has gone bankrupt after officials blamed their milk and milk-based products of killing at least six people and sickening hundreds of thousands of others. The BBC's James Reynolds is covering this story from Beijing.

As President-elect Obama focuses on the economic crisis during his transition period, he'll soon have to consider US-China relations. With a fast-growing economy and population, China's effect on global issues — energy consumption, the world’s economy and climate change, to name a few — will be profound and long-lasting.

China now owns more U.S. public debt than any other nation — about one out of every 10 debt dollars — a reflection of its growing global economic influence. Blame wars, bailouts and stimulus plans — all big-ticket and unbudgeted expenses. With China buying our debt, it is, in effect, boosting the U.S. dollar relative to the yuan, making imports cheaper (and more attractive). The United States has imported five times as much as it has exported to China this year.

Top owners of U.S. public debt (as of Sept. 2008):
China $585 billion
Japan $573 billion
United Kingdom $338.4 billion
Caribbean Banking Centers* $185.3 billion
Oil-Exporting Nations** $182.2 billion
Brazil $141.9 billion

* Includes Bahamas, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Netherlands Antilles, Panama, British Virgin Islands
** Includes Ecuador, Venezuela, Indonesia, Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Algeria, Gabon, Libya, Nigeria

"China's economy is growing and it has a stranglehold on a lot of American assets." — David Barboza, The New York Times

There's bad economic news out of China this morning, showing signs the financial crisis is affecting the Asian nation with the world's fastest growing economy. China's economy grew at a rate of 9 percent in the most recent quarter. That may not sound all that bad by Western standards, but ...

Shops and supermarkets across China have been withdrawing dairy products after the revelation that powdered baby milk, and now liquid milk, has been contaminated. A government watchdog group said nearly ten per cent of milk samples taken in recent days contained the industrial chemical melamine, which makes the protein content appear higher. Four babies have died and more than six-thousand children have fallen ill as a result of the contamination.

Guest: Andrew Jacobs, The New York Times