Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi (3rd L) listens during the beginning of the U.S.-China Strategic Economic Dialogue hosted by U.S. Secretary of Treasury Henry Paulson in Washington, May 22, 2007. [Reuters]

U.S. officials who have bargained with China's chief trade negotiator come away with the same conclusion: Wu Yi is formidable.

"She is not shy," said Mickey Kantor, former U.S. secretary of commerce. Some of her peers fall back on old- fashioned, even politically incorrect, terms in talking about her: "She was considered a tough pro," recalled James Lilley, U.S. ambassador to China from 1989 to 1991. "She was pretty good-looking, an attractive woman too."

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, who has described Wu, 68, as "a force of nature," is meeting her today in Washington as U.S. lawmakers demand action against China's tidal wave of exports and undervalued currency. People who know her say she'll respond with intellect, stubbornness and charm -- buttressed by her recently elevated position in the Chinese government.

After years as China's top official for trade -- she played a key role in getting her country into the World Trade Organization in 2001 -- Wu last month took over responsibility for China's financial system, including the central bank.

"She has the personal heft and imprimatur of the Chinese leadership," said Charlene Barshefsky, who negotiated with Wu as U.S. trade representative, and earlier as deputy representative, from 1993 to 2001. "She's very tough, but also reasonable, and understands the U.S. as well as, if not better than, anyone in the Chinese leadership."

A 'Strategic' Discussion

In Washington, Wu and more than a dozen Chinese government officials, including Commerce Minister Bo Xilai and Zhou Xiaochuan, governor of China's central bank, are taking part in the "Strategic Economic Dialogue" with a team led by Paulson, 61. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke will also participate, Treasury officials said. Members of the Chinese delegation will meet with U.S. lawmakers, some of whom threaten retaliatory legislation unless China agrees to bigger, faster steps to address trade and currency imbalances.

"The two countries should look domestically to seek ways to resolve their economic problems," Wu said in opening remarks at the meetings today. She warned that "politicizing" trade issues was "absolutely unacceptable."

While China's hefty 2006 trade surplus with the U.S. is high on the agenda, talks also include protection of intellectual property and U.S. policies blocking the export of high technology to China.

Greater Flexibility

China's central bank announced on May 17 it will allow the yuan to move as much as 0.5 percent on either side of a daily fixing rate against the dollar, up from 0.3 percent. China also announced before the trip it would buy $12 billion worth of U.S. machines, soybeans and technology products to reduce its trade surplus. That figure has since climbed to $20 billion, Trade Minister Ma Xiuhong told reporters in Washington today.

On Wu's last visit to the U.S. in 2006, she announced about $16 billion in purchases.

Gifts in the midst of negotiations are a specialty of Wu's, said Barshefsky, recalling a grueling round of trade talks in 1995. After a session that went on for 24 hours, Wu presented Barshefsky with a hand-embroidered silk scarf from China. "I was quite overwhelmed by the gift," she said. It demonstrated Wu's "extremely smart and sophisticated side."

China's most powerful woman spent the first 26 years of her career as a petroleum engineer, working in refineries in Gansu, one of China's poorest provinces, and Beijing. Then she was named one of six vice mayors of Beijing in 1988.

In 1991, Wu was promoted to vice minister of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation, starting her career as an international negotiator.

Disease Outbreak

Her status as China's most powerful woman was reinforced in March 2003 when she became one of the country's four vice premiers before being tasked with handling the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS.

She took control of the health ministry and allowed the World Health Organization access to patients, hospitals and medical records. Heeding WHO recommendations, she quarantined SARS patients and closed schools, cinemas and public arenas.

"There was action within days," said Henk Bekedam, WHO's representative in China. She was open-minded in listening to WHO recommendations, said Bekedam.

`Frustrated'

Wu, he said, is "someone who gets frustrated when she's not able to get things done."

Wu, who stands 1.6 meters (5 feet) tall, has never married and lives with her niece in an apartment near the Forbidden City, the former imperial palace in the center of Beijing.

She's an avid reader of Russian literature and enjoys fishing, said Women Daily newspaper's former senior editor Feng Yuan, who has covered Wu's career for 20 years.

In April, Wu took over the financial services portfolio of Vice Premier Huang Ju, who is suffering from pancreatic cancer. The U.S. that month filed two WTO complaints against China, seeking to combat the alleged rampant piracy of movies, music, software and books.

The cases "ignored China's progress in acting against counterfeits" and damaged ties, Wu responded in a speech, vowing to "fight until the end."

"She's always got a smile on her face," said former U.S. Secretary of Commerce Don Evans, who dealt frequently with her from 2001 and 2004. "Yet she's got a steel-trap mind and thinks like an engineer."