Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton first trip?

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has settled on China as an important stop on her first trip abroad in her new job and aides told me that climate and energy will be high on the agenda. (Japan will be the first stop on the Asian trip, which is planned for later this month.)The visit to China meshes with early signals sent recently by President Obama’s nascent energy and climate team about the importance of working with the industrializing giant on these entwined issues.
Todd Stern, the newly created special envoy on climate change for the United States, will be with Mrs. Clinton in China. In an e-mail message, he said a top goal is to end the endless sparring between the two giant sources of greenhouse gases over who needs to do what first. “Secretary Clinton is keenly aware that the United States — as the largest historic emitter of greenhouse gases — and China — as the largest emitter going forward — need to develop a strong, constructive partnership to build the kind of clean energy economies that will allow us to put the brakes on global climate change,” Mr. Stern said. “We need to put finger-pointing aside and focus on how our two leading nations can work together productively to solve the problem.”

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is clearly itching to hit the road. But to where? “We’ll let you know as soon as we get it organized,” she told reporters earlier this week. “I’m looking forward to it.”