What Obama Accomplished in Asia？Nothing at All. 浅薄做秀奥巴马中国行-两手空空

What Obama Accomplished in Asia？ 浅薄做秀奥巴马中国行-两手空空

Nothing much. 两手空空

陈凯一语： Kai Chen's Words:

Besides strengthening the Chinese communist regime's positions and appeasing/kowtowing an illegitimate government, Obama's China trip accomplished nothing - a waste of tax-payers money, much like everything he does nowadays. --- Kai Chen

除了为一个非法共产政权站台、对一个罪犯政府磕头之外，（天安门屠杀与人权毫无提及）奥巴马的中国行只是个两手空空的浪费我们赋税人钱财的徒劳。 他被选上台后完全是无所事事的做秀。 --- 陈凯

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by Fred Barnes
11/19/2009 12:00:00 AM

Has a president ever been less successful on a trip overseas than President Obama has on his eight-day excursion to Asia? I've been covering presidents since Gerald Ford and I can't think of one.

Obama struck out on his entire agenda in China and he acquiesced as the Chinese subjected him to the humiliation of a choreographed town hall meeting with student members of the Young Communist League. And he suffered through a 30-minute news conference with Chinese President Hu Jintao in which no questions from the media were allowed. Presidents normally come away on visits to foreign countries with "deliverables"--that is, tangible signs of progress like a treaty signing. All Obama got was a list of things the United States and China would do in the future. There's a name for this: diplomatic boilerplate.

Obama's aides and flacks insisted he wasn't looking for immediate gains in the American relationship with China. Instead he was developing stronger relations for long term. This reminds me of what his defenders say about a football running back who doesn't gain many yards. He's a great blocker. Yeah, right!

And imagine the embarrassment of being lectured by the Chinese about being protectionist. No previous president has been subjected to that. China manipulates its currency and is protectionist itself. Yet Obama didn't have a good comeback to the charge because his administration has slapped tariffs on imports of Chinese tires and pipe. And Obama has declined to push for ratification of a free trade treaty, negotiated by the Bush administration, with South Korea.

What didn't Obama get in China? He wanted China to join in pressuring on Iran to stop its nuclear weapons program. He got nowhere on that. He hoped China would step up on curbing global warming. Again, he largely failed. He wished China would begin to strengthen its undervalued currency. On that, he got China's umpteenth promise to start that process--a hollow promise if there ever was one. Then there was human rights. No progress on that either.

That wasn't all. Even before Obama arrived in China, the U.S. was criticized at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum by Russia, Mexico, and China for creeping protectionism. The best Obama, who now calls himself "America's first Pacific president," could offer was willingness to negotiate a possible U.S. membership in a minor trade pact known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

Also at the forum, Obama had to settle for less than he sought on global warming. As a result, next month's international meeting at Copenhagen will only be a stepping stone to a comprehensive treaty later to curb greenhouse gas emissions. Plus, China zinged Obama for the weakened dollar.

One surprise of the trip was the press coverage. For once in Obama's case, it wasn't adoring. Obama took his lumps from the New York Times, Washington Post, and Los Angeles Times for his lack of accomplishment. "When it came to China, President Obama's famous powers of persuasion failed to persuade," wrote Barbara Demick of the LA Times. "Not only is the U.S. president coming away without definable concessions, but the Chinese appeared to be digging in their heels."
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Obama’s Silence on China – by Matt Gurney

Posted by Matt Gurney on Nov 19th, 2009 and filed under FrontPage.

President Obama this week embarked on his first trip to China, but so far he has little to show for his visit. Wrapping up a three-day stay in the Asian powerhouse, the president secured impressive photo ops, spouted lofty rhetoric, and made vague statements about future plans. Yet he has done absolutely nothing to defend American interests or to stand up for the Chinese people who continue to suffer under communist tyranny.

For an unapologetically liberal leader, President Obama had surprisingly little to say to China on the contentious issue of human rights. While China has enthusiastically embraced capitalism, it has ignored the Western world’s demands that it improve the treatment of its own people.

The facts are bleak. An estimated half-million Chinese are currently being held without trial or legal recourse; religious freedoms are suppressed; and the Chinese press is vigorously censored. The minority Tibetan and Uighar peoples are oppressed. Prisoners face torture and swift execution. While China may excel at wowing the world with dazzling events such as the 2008 Beijing Olympics, it remains a deeply repressive country.

And yet, President Obama has tip-toed around these issues, doing his best to avoid antagonizing his hosts. He has not met with Chinese liberals, with spiritual and faith leaders, and certainly not with the Dalai Lama. The spiritual leader of the Tibetan people, the Dalai Lama has been a thorn in China’s side ever since China occupied Tibet, and yet has always been feted in the West as a champion of freedom and human rights. President Obama hasn’t exactly repudiated this position; he’s simply refused to meet with the Dalai Lama until after the summit, hoping to play both sides of the coin. Apparently, the president believes that it is possible for America to find a balanced position between the oppressor and the oppressed.

The president’s only “real” contact with average Chinese citizens occurred during a so-called town hall meeting with students in Shanghai. The meeting was actually a carefully managed media event, controlled by the Chinese. Obama played along and made a few bland remarks about the need to embrace openness and limit censorship, knowing that his words would reach few in China, and therefore not offend his hosts. The president’s statement on the value of open information and a free press were seen by almost no one — the Chinese did not widely broadcast the event. So much for freedom of the press.

It is unfortunate that President Obama has shown the same disinterest in the plight of Chinese dissidents that he did in the fates of Iranian reformers. For all his talk of optimism and hope, Obama clearly values building relationships with dictators more than supporting the people they oppress. This would be difficult to swallow even if it had conveyed any advantages, but ignoring the Iranian protesters has done nothing to improve relations between America and Iran, and will do no more to improve America’s standing with China.

It would be imprudent, of course, for Obama overtly to provoke China. China’s economic and military strength are growing rapidly, at a time when America’s economy and military are already stretched to the breaking point. America clearly wants to see China take a greater leadership role in the world, thus relieving some of the burdens America shoulders. In some small ways, China has cooperated, dispatching naval ships to assist in anti-piracy operations off the coast of Somalia, for example. On other issues, however, notably the Iranian nuclear program, China has shown no inclination to help America.

In his haste to welcome China onto the world stage, President Obama should take care not to slight the other Asian giant. India, almost as populous as China and a democracy, to boot, is like China a vibrant, growing power. India is actually more likely to be amenable to American interests in the region, particular in regards to combating militant Islam. The Indian government has responded negatively to President Obama’s invitation for China to increase its role in providing security in the region, a region that is far from America, but home to the Indians.

While the United States might not be able to tower above China as it could in the past, when the president of the United States speaks, the world listens. But the president’s strongest words were saved for lecturing China for its monetary policy, calling on Beijing to stop keeping the value of the Chinese dollar, the renminbi, artificially low. That would hurt Chinese imports to the benefit of America.

While most financial experts agree that the Chinese renminbi’s value is indeed too low relative to other major currencies, it must be remembered that it is China that has financed America’s deficit spending. President Obama has no business lecturing the Chinese on financial matters when his ambitious social engineering plans, especially his proposed healthcare reforms, will sink America even deeper into deficit, a deficit that Obama is counting on China to finance.

China’s rise has prompted many to suggest that America must learn to treat the Asian power as an equal. But President Obama has gone beyond such concessions. An equal partnership is one thing. But until Obama finds the backbone to publicly say what must be said about the injustice of China’s political system, he treats his own country as the junior partner.