text: United Nations visit From 23 to 26 September 2008, he met with various foreign leaders, including U.S. President George W. Bush and Chinese President Hu Jintao. He suffered political embarrassment by flirting with U.S. vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin and making tongue-in-cheek comments about her. Although, at the United Nations General Assembly, he publicly condemned U.S drone attacks in Pakistan, The Washington Post reported that he had signed a "secret deal" when he met with senior American officials that arranged for the coordination of Predator strikes and a jointly approved list of prominent targets. He and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh agreed to resume peace talks by the end of 2008.
  Economic crises
  From 14 to 17 October 2008, he was in China to negotiate foreign aid, as Pakistan faced the possibility of defaulting on its payments. China refused to offer any aid commitments, but instead promised to provide assistance in the development of two nuclear power plants and more future business investments.
  After Saudi Arabia, Britain, China, the United States, and the United Arab Emirates refused to provide any bailout, he officially asked the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for assistance in solving Pakistan's balance of payments problem on 22 October.
  He went to Saudi Arabia from 4 to 6 November in hopes of obtaining financial aid and securing trade agreements. However, leaked cables revealed increasingly strained relations between Zardari and Saudi royalty, primarily because of Saudi distrust of Zardari and preference for Sharif. Weaker cooperation led to decreased oil subsidies as part of a broader Saudi policy of withholding monetary assistance.