On November 18, the great and good of the New York financial community flocked to the drawing room of the NY Palace Hotel to attend a lunch given by Chinese brokerage CICC in honour of the former vice-prime minister, Zeng Peiyan, and a senior delegation of Chinese leaders such as Lou Jiwei, chairman of China Investment Corp.

Facing the Chinese were senior executives from the buy-out world including Henry Kravis of KKR and Blackstone’s Jonathan Gray while the hedge fund contingent included Maverick’s Lee Ainslie, Eric Mindich of Eton Park, John Paulson, and Dinakar Singh of TPG-Axon. Wall Street was represented by Ken Wilson, the former Treasury official who is now at BlackRock, and Lazard’s Gary Parr. There were a few chief executives as well, such as Klaus Kleinfeld of Alcoa.

The Chinese message was stark according to multiple guests: if your Congress passes a bill labelling us as currency manipulators, we will crush you. And because we find your government rather difficult to deal with, please convey that message on our behalf.