He told the students that US assets were "safe"...students just laughed. Why did Obama send him to talk to the Chinese Govt. at a time of such US weakness??
First you need a little history lesson. President Nixon(a Republican) first visited Communist China, President Reagan starts selling long term Bonds to China, President Bush(the first one) starts selling short tern notes to China, President Clinton Has the Treasury buy back the majority of outstanding Bonds and Notes from China, President Bush(the second one) has the Treasury sell more short and long term notes to China than has ever been sold to any 5 countries before.
Now, What was your question, oh yea, what is my opinion of Chinese students laughing at Geitner today?
Answer: At least they did their homework on the US "Assets".
It's important to understand what they were laughing about. They are voicing their distrust of the US credit rating firms. China (as institutional investors) got burned because they invested so much into US Mortgage Backed Securities. Remember, those securities were all at least AAA rated by Moody's, Standard & Poor's, etc. Most of those securities turned out to be terrible investments, which lost almost all of their intrinsic value.
Although Geitner wasn't solely responsible for this mess, the Chinese are expressing their displeasure by venting upon him.