US-China Relations - 136. page

China Economy carried an article that Beijing Daily originally published discrediting how U.S. politicians handled the Chen Guangcheng case and saying that the Chinese people did not accept its attempt to cause a disturbance in China’s internal affairs. It further criticized Gary Locke his seeking publicity and called his actions “inconsistent” with his title as the consulate general, saying that the U.S. should learn how to respect China’s core values and interact with China equally.

The article added that the U.S. politicians’ attempts to be smart in order to cause a disturbance for China was too naive and didn’t work. “The U.S. has, rather, exposed itself by showing its ugliness.” “A consulate that is stationed in China should obey diplomatic forms. It shouldn’t, with ulterior motives, conduct any actions that will discredit themselves or their country’s reputation.”

The article claimed that the rights activist Chen Guangcheng can’t represent anyone except Western anti-China forces and that he has become a tool that U.S. politicians use to discredit China. The demand that Chen laid out did nothing more than demonstrate the urgency of U.S. politicians attempt to create trouble for China. “Chinese society will not give any recognition to their poor performance. It is not that easy to fool and take advantage of the Chinese people." Further, no one in the country will allow another country or consulate to interfere with China’s own internal affairs, despite the fact that the system and many people face a number of social issues.

In attacking Gary Locke, it called him, "The U.S. politician who tried to stir up trouble." The few “disturbing” actions that Locke took included: boarding an airplane using economy class, carrying his own bags himself, using coupons to buy coffee, inspecting and publishing the U.S. consulate’s air pollution index, participating in a Beijing city management dispute, and bringing Chen Guangcheng into the U.S. consulate using an unconventional method.

The article suggested that the U.S. and China should respect and tolerate each other and use dialog and communication to deal with their differences. “Only when U.S. politicians put aside their (ulterior) motives can they properly manage the U.S. China relationship so that both countries can benefit.” 

Source: China Economy, May 4, 2012
http://www.ce.cn/xwzx/gnsz/gdxw/201205/04/t20120504_23294198.shtml

Huanqiu published a commentary stating that Western media once again picked up on the Chen Guangcheng case and tried to exaggerate the circumstances, pointing to this as another example of the U.S. tendency to discredit China.

According to the article, Chen’s case reached a turning point one day before the strategic and economic dialog, which was an indication that both sides did not want Chen’s case to interfere with their relationship. Chen’s case only represents a small percentage of the incidents that occur and will not bring fundamental damage to Chinese society and to the advancement and development work of Chinese human rights. The article also claimed that, in recent years, China has made achievements in the area of human rights. The foundation of China’s stability is at the local level, which faces most of the issues, but the situation is improving. … China is so big that there is resistance emerging here and there but it is mostly buried and has not formed a major phenomenon yet.

The article wished that the U.S. consulate would be cautious in its actions and stay away from the activities that do not fit its job description. “The U.S. should place its interest in winning the heart of Chinese main stream society, but not act as the spiritual support for Chinese extremists because the consulate cannot afford the burden.”

Source: Huanqiu, May 3, 2012
http://china.huanqiu.com/newchinahotcomment/2012-05/2683468.html

According to a report by the Central News Agency (CNA) in Taiwan, the photos that the U.S. Embassy in Beijing posted showing Chen Guangcheng leaving the U.S. Embassy were removed shortly after they were posted on the Embassy’s official sina weibo (sina microblog), a popular Chinese blog website similar to twitter and facebook.

The U.S. Embassy released two photos on its official sina weibo at 11:30 pm Beijing time on May 2. One showed Chen leaving the Embassy with Ambassador Locke and State Department Assistant Secretary Kurt Campbell. The other showed Chen in a wheelchair entering a Beijing Hospital with Ambassador Locke and State Department Legal Advisor Harold Koh. Within six minutes of the posting, sina weibo removed the two photos. The reason given on sina weibo was, “This photo is not appropriate for public display.”

The CNA report said that, on the U.S. State Department website, there are several photos that show Chen and his family at a Beijing hospital, “but one cannot view these photos from inside China.”

Source: Central News Agency, May 3, 2012
http://www.cna.com.tw/News/FirstNews/201205030059.aspx

On May 2, 2012, Xinhua issued a brief report saying that Chen Guangcheng “entered the U.S. Embassy in China in late April. He left the U.S. Embassy of his own volition after staying there for 6 days.” No other information was mentioned regarding how Chen’s escaped last week from his village home in Linyi in Shandong Province. Chen had been under house arrest since his release from prison in September 2010, after serving his full sentence of four years and three months. The authorities said he "damaged property and organized a mob to disturb traffic." Since 2005 Chen has been receiving increased international attention because of what he actually did. Chen organized a class-action lawsuit against Chinese authorities in Shandong for excessive enforcement of China’s one-child policy (including forced abortions and sterilizations).

In a separate report on May 2, 2012, Xinhua quoted Liu Weimin, China’s foreign affairs spokesperson, who told the U.S. that China demanded an apology. “I would like to emphasize that the U.S. Embassy in China has the obligation to comply with international law and Chinese law and cannot engage in activities inconsistent with its function. China absolutely will not accept this U.S. interference in China’s internal affairs, and demands that the U.S. apologize over this, conduct a thorough investigation of the incident, discipline the personnel involved, and ensure that no similar events will ever occur again.” According to Xinhua, Liu further stated, “What the U.S. should do now is to stop continuing to confuse and to try in every way to quibble and to cover up its own responsibility in this matter. Moreover, it should not continue to interfere in China’s domestic affairs. It should, instead, responsibly and seriously learn from this incident, truly reflect on its policies and approaches, and adopt measures to safeguard the Sino-U.S. relationship.“

On the same day, U.S. Secretary State Clinton issued a statement saying that she was pleased that the U.S. “was able to facilitate Chen Guangcheng’s stay and departure from the U.S. Embassy in a way that reflected his choices and our values.” Her statement further stated that “the United States government and the American people are committed to remaining engaged with Mr. Chen and his family in the days, weeks, and years ahead.”

Sources:
Xinhua, May 2, 2012
http://news.xinhuanet.com/local/2012-05/02/c_111873571.htm
Xinhua, May 2, 2012
http://news.xinhuanet.com/world/2012-05/02/c_111875347.htm
U.S. Department of State, May 2, 2012
http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2012/05/189090.htm

People’s Daily carried an article covering how Tsinghua University conducts training programs for U.S. officials. According to Sun Zhe, director of the Center for China-US Relations under Tsinghua University, the training programs are part of the “World Leadership Training,” an advanced training program sponsored by the Federal Executive Institute based in Virginia. The participants are mainly senior administrative officials from U.S. government departments including the State Department, Department of Defense, and Homeland Security. “If we can continue (to hold this type of program), it can have a fundamental influence on the China U.S. relationship,” Sun told People’s Daily.

The program consists of courses that cover China’s Strategy and Political System, the 18th National Congress, the International Political Climate, the China U.S. Relationship, China’s Military Modernization, its Military and Defense Policy, Foreign Policy, Economic and Trade Policy, and its Energy and Policy Making Process. “These administrative officials are the foundation of the U.S. government. They often make various types of recommendations to top U.S. decision makers. We allow them to learn about China and about what is on our mind so that we can minimize misunderstandings between us. … We can be friends with them and we can thus have some influence on them,” Sun said.

The last time that Tsinghua held this type of training program was in April 2010.

Source: People’s Daily, April 28, 2012
http://world.people.com.cn/GB/17774822.html

Days before the 4th China US Strategic and Economic Dialog that was to be held on May 3 and 4 in Beijing, People’s Daily oversea’s edition published a commentary warning the U.S. not to send the wrong messages to certain other countries regarding the South China Sea dispute.

The article said that the timing of the dialog was important because it was coming before the upcoming presidential election and the Chinese Communist Party’s 18th National Congress. "China has been openly raising its concerns and making requests in certain areas: that the U.S. should stop its surveillance near China’s coasts; eliminate limitations on high tech exports to China; recognize China’s market economy; and provide a fair trade investment environment for China’s direct investments in the U.S." The article stated, "The U.S. has recently increased its involvement in the Asia Pacific region significantly. For example, the U.S. has been involved in military collaboration with the Philippians, Vietnam, and Australia; established a new military base; conducted military exercises that are growing in scale; has been selling weapons; and even plans to build a missile defense system."

The article said that the U.S. should put an end to its proclivity to challenge China in the South China Sea dispute, let the strategic and economic dialog minimize distrust between the two, and embrace the idea of “cooperation so both sides can benefit.”

Source: People’s Daily, May 2, 2012
http://opinion.people.com.cn/GB/40604/17784619.html

The International Herald Leader, under Xinhua News, recently published an article accusing the United States of applying its domestic laws to international affairs. For now, this is reflected in the Iranian sanction effort (banning U.S. banks from doing business with countries who keep buying oil from Iran). The article referred to a recent announcement that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made on March 20, 2012. Clinton temporarily relaxed sanctions on the financial organizations of many countries that are U.S. allies. However, under Section 1245 of the National Defense Authorization Act, sanctions remain for countries like China and India, who keep a normal oil trade relationship with Iran. The article claimed that U.S. allies like South Korea and Japan have “silent resentment” even though they have cooperated with the United States. The author expressed the belief that the U.S. is abusing its international superpower status to illegally use its domestic laws to regulate other countries. The author suggested that the U.S. approach is rude and that using normal channels to buy oil from Iran does not break any U.N. resolution. The article listed many other examples of how the U.S. uses domestic laws to serve its foreign policies.

Source: International Herald Leader, April 6, 2012
http://news.xinhuanet.com/herald/2012-04/06/c_131508549.htm

Huanqiu published a commentary on March 29, 2012, on the testimony that Don Yamamoto, the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Bureau of African Affairs at the U.S. Department of State, gave before the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee, Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, and Human Rights, regarding China’s role and its influence in Africa. Yamamoto said, “China’s activities in Africa offer important opportunities for the continent, though there are major areas where our interests do not align.” The Huanqiu commentary was critical of this statement, among other things. “The biggest problem is that (China) moves the ‘cheese’ of the West (a sarcastic reference to U.S. inability to adjust to its loss of hegemony), thus violating the interests of the United States. Sino-African cooperation is in line with the interests of China and African countries. One should not ask China and Africa to reduce their cooperation for the benefit of U.S. interests. If the U.S. wants to protect its own interests, then the U.S. should first know what shame is and then have the courage to catch up by doing a better job, rather than being jealous of others and sabotaging or thwarting others.”

Sources: Huanqiu, April 16, 2012
http://opinion.huanqiu.com/roll/2012-04/2619402.html
Wikipedia: Who Moved My Cheese?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who_Moved_My_Cheese%3F