At a time when the U.S. economy is tumbling into recession, boycotting the Beijing Olympics could be a disastrous move according to noted China expert, Jim Trippon. Trippon, editor of the China Stock Digest said today, “The Chinese have clearly signaled that there will be long term ramifications if the U.S. mishandles the Olympic issue. At a time like this, the U.S. cannot afford to turn the Olympics into a political punching bag.”

Speaking from his Houston headquarters, Trippon emphasized that China is America’s most important trading partner as well as being the largest holder of U.S. debt. “With $1.6 trillion in foreign reserves, most of that in U.S. dollars and U.S. treasuries, China now holds the power to throw the U.S. into depression or to collapse the value of the greenback. This is a grim reality,” Trippon warned.

Trippon says he is especially concerned about recent comments from the Chinese foreign ministry. A ministry spokesman, Jiang Yu, says U.S. politicians should have a "clear and sober understanding" of recent events. She warned, "We hope that politicians will be able to handle China-U.S. relations from a strategic, long-term vantage point."

“Cutting through the diplomatic language, this is a very serious warning from Beijing that China will retaliate if the U.S. boycotts the Olympics. Whatever one’s political leanings, this is a fight that the U.S. could not and should not pick,” Trippon said.

Hillary Clinton, Richard Gere and other public figures have pressured the President to boycott the Beijing Olympic Games, a move that would humiliate the Chinese according to Trippon. “It may be difficult for westerners to understand how deeply the Chinese would be insulted by such a boycott,” Trippon said, “but there’s no longer any doubt that it’s a serious enough issue to result in a concerted economic backlash from Beijing, something the U.S. cannot afford at this critical time.”

“It would be a serious mistake to underestimate the depth of Chinese feeling on this matter,” says Trippon, who owns the largest independent investment research firm in Mainland China. Trippon, who has just returned from China, will discuss on on-air:

• Why it is disingenuous to pick on China for its human rights abuses when America’s own human rights history has been badly stained.
• Why vilifying China is not in America’s economic nor strategic interests.
• Why we should be engaging in diplomatic dialogue with China in order to influence China as a friend and ally rather than throwing rocks about Tibet.
• Why China sees U.S. hypocrisy in its moral outage over Tibet.
• How China’s “Rodney Dangerfield” complex affects the way its government thinks and reacts to external pressure.
• How China will overtake the U.S. as the top economic superpower in ten years and why this is not bad news for Americans.