Region eyes Obama's reception of Chinese President Hu 就胡访美 - 美媒体采访陈凯

陈凯一语：

当对话的前提-中共党朝的非法与罪犯性质被忽略抹杀时，任何互动都是负向的与无意义的。 自由社会的人们应懂得这一理性常识。

Kai Chen's Words:

When any dialogue happens between China and the US, no one should omit/deny the very premise based on which a meaningful exchange can happen - China is not a legitimate nation (only a Party-Dynasty), and China's government is a criminal enterprise. This is only common sense based on simple, basic rationality.

陈凯博客： www.kaichenblog.blogspot.com

"He is a dictator. He can do a lot of things through the form of government they have. Maybe I shouldn’t have said dictator, but they have a different type of government then we have, and that is an understatement,” --- Harry Reid

“他（胡）是个独裁者。 在他们那种政体中他可以擅自决定许多事。 也可能我在这个时候叫他”独裁者不合适。 但他们的政体与我们的截然不同，也可能是截然相反。”-- 哈利. 里德 （美参院多数党领袖）

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Region eyes Obama's reception of Chinese President Hu

就胡访美 - 美媒体采访陈凯

Rebecca Kimitch, Staff Writer
Posted: 01/18/2011 07:04:37 PM PST

Chinese President Hu Jintao is visiting President Barack Obama this week in what some are calling the most important diplomatic visit of Obama's presidency.

With the economies of the United States and China - the two largest in the world - becoming ever more tied, U.S. companies are eyeing the visit with high hopes it will produce increased opportunities for them to compete with China, both here and there.

But questions remain about how tough Obama will push for concessions on economic disputes between the countries, such as China's currency manipulation, lack of enforcement of intellectual property rights, and limitations on foreign access to China's market.

And, with Obama opening wide the diplomatic doors, including hosting an official White House dinner for Hu, Chinese critics are concerned the United States is ignoring the country's history of human rights abuses in the name of economic profit.

Still, Assemblyman Mike Eng, a Chinese-American, said the visit will go a long way to stabilizing the relationship between the growing rivals - critical to the economic vitality of the San Gabriel Valley.

"This is a great opportunity for both sides to realize that now more than ever their interests are so firmly tied to each other. This visit is a step towards trying to normalize our relations," Eng, D-El Monte, said. "We have a lot of businesses in the San Gabriel Valley whose livelihood relies on these relations."

The region has in recent years since an increase of Chinese investment in real estate and commercial businesses. In the city of Industry alone, 900 of the 2,500 business are Chinese owned and operated, according to Don Sachs, executive director of the Industry Manufacturers Council.

As that city has shifted from an economy based in manufacturing to one based in distribution and warehousing, Chinese investment has helped fill vacant warehouses.

"We have a vested interest in maintaining and expanding relations with China," Sachs said.

At the same time, the region's shift away from manufacturing largely came as companies moved manufacturing overseas to countries including China - a reality well known to Sachs.

"Our president and their president have to get together to make a more level playing field, so both sides can prosper rather than just one," he said. "It has to be a give and take."

Leveling that playing field means a lot of things that will come before Obama and Hu this week.
For one, the Chinese currency, the yuan, has long been the No. 1 irritant in U.S.-China trade relations. The U.S. and other countries charge that China keeps its currency artificially low. They say that gives Chinese exporters an unfair edge. A low-priced yuan makes Chinese products cheaper in the U.S. and U.S. products costlier in China.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner declared China's currency "significantly undervalued" in advance of Hu's visit.

Obama is sure to raise concerns about the yuan's value in his discussions with Hu. But the Chinese are just as sure to avoid the appearance of bowing to foreign pressure.

Obama is also likely to raise concerns about intellectual property rights. U.S. software companies say they're also being cheated out of billions in sales because Chinese companies and even government agencies illegally copy their programs, instead of buying them.

While much has been made of these issues, the top priority for U.S. companies doing business in China, or wishing to do business in China, is market access, according Clayton Dube, associate director of USC's US-China Institute.

Surveys of American businesses in China, like Proctor and Gamble and Intel, regularly reveal that companies say they are not there primarily to produce products for cheap - although they are there for that too - rather they are there to get access to the Chinese market: 1.4 billion people strong.

But policies of the Chinese government have been restrictive in allowing access to that market. For example, a policy China adopted in 2009, called "indigenous innovation," limits the government's purchase of foreign products to only those designed in China.

While Rep. Judy Chu, D-El Monte, says the controversial issues need to be addressed, she said the meeting between Obama and Hu can go a long way to increasing trade between the countries generally.

Chu, the first Chinese-American Congresswoman, points to wine as an example. Nearly half of the wine consumed in China is from France, while only 5 percent is from the U.S.

"We haven't been properly marketing our great California wine," she said.

While Chu said Obama should attempt to address military and human rights concerns - the two other topics that will dominate the diplomatic visit - the "overriding concern should be the economies of both countries."

But Chinese dissident Kai Chen says there should be nothing normal about the relations between the U.S. and China.

"It makes me so mad that we treat China like a normal country," said Chen, a former basketball player for the Chinese National Team who lives in Los Angeles.

For him, there's no need to discuss economics, the military or any other topic outside of the lack of freedom for the Chinese people.

"First, you mention Tiananmen Square and force them to acknowledge what happened," he said. "Then you occupy the moral high ground. Then you can talk to them."

He said he doubts Obama would take such a tact.

The more economically intertwined the U.S. and China become, the less likely people, particularly Chinese-Americans, are to criticize it, he said.

"You're not going to find too many people here criticizing China. Not only is it their ancestral land, but many have business interests tied into it."

Chen said Obama should also force Hu to discuss 2010 Nobel Peace Prize winner and Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo, who missed the award presentation because he was in a Chinese prison on charges of spurring anti-government sentiment.

"Obama won the same prize for doing nothing," he said. "He at least owes it to Liu Xiaobo to mention his name."

As much as Chinese-Americans are watching the politics of Hu's visit, they are also intrigued by the show, Eng said.

Today, the Chinese president will get what he desperately wanted, but was denied, during his last visit to Washington five years ago: an official state dinner.

"There is a great interest in the pomp and circumstance - who is invited, what kind of food they will serve, what people will wear. It's like the Golden Globes or the Oscars. Those are the hottest tickets in town," said Eng, whose wife, Rep. Chu, will be attending the dinner.

Symbolism and protocol are very important to the Chinese and the opulence of the black-tie affair with Obama should be plenty satisfying for Hu, a 67-year-old hydroelectric engineer who has ruled the country since 2002. That alone could help the relationship between the leaders.

"There is enormous pride that Chinese Americans... and Asian Americans to know that an Asian country is being focused on for an official visit and state dinner," Eng said. "There is a sense it increases the importance of Asian Americans in America."

Staff writer Ben Baeder and The Associated Press contributed to this story.

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Harry Reid calls Chinese leader Hu Jintao a 'dictator'

美参议员（民主党）称胡锦涛为独裁者

"He is a dictator. He can do a lot of things through the form of government they have. Maybe I shouldn’t have said dictator, but they have a different type of government then we have, and that is an understatement,” --- Harry Reid

“他（胡）是个独裁者。 在他们那种政体中他可以擅自决定许多事。 也可能我在这个时候叫他”独裁者不合适。 但他们的政体与我们的截然不同，也可能是截然相反。”-- 哈利. 里德 （美参院多数党领袖）

By SCOTT WONG 1/19/11 7:17 AM EST

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) labeled Chinese President Hu Jintao a “dictator,” just as President Barack Obama prepares to host the Chinese leader on Wednesday at a state dinner aimed at soothing tensions between the two world powers.

Reid’s off-the-cuff comments came Tuesday night during a televised interview with Las Vegas journalist Jon Ralston, who asked the majority leader whether the bipartisan tax compromise Obama struck with Republican leaders last year was a good deal for the country.

“I am going to go back to Washington and meet with the President of China. He is a dictator. He can do a lot of things through the form of government they have. Maybe I shouldn’t have said dictator, but they have a different type of government then we have, and that is an understatement,” Reid said in the interview.

“So we have to work in the system we have, the best system ever devised to rule the affairs of men and women,” Reid continued. “And one of the few ways we get things done, in fact the most important way we get things done, is through compromise. It’s not a bad word, and that is how we get things done.”

Beginning Wednesday morning, Obama hosts a welcome reception for the Chinese president at the White House, followed by meetings between U.S. and Chinese business leaders designed to boost trade and investment between the two nations.

Later Wednesday, Hu will be feted at a lavish state dinner at the White House, the first for a Chinese leader in 13 years.

Reid, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) are among the congressional leaders expected to meet with Hu on Thursday on Capitol Hill to discuss a range of issues, including currency manipulation, human rights and North Korea.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0111/47810.html#ixzz1BUj2NZ1B