US-China Relations - 169. page

Ming Pao Daily reported on February 20, 2010, that the high-profile protest made by China against the U.S. President Barack Obama’s meeting with Dalai Lama will not affect Sino-US cooperation.

Radical messages such as resisting U.S. goods and reducing China’s holdings of U.S. Treasuries have appeared on Mainland China’s websites. Some scholars claimed that China would not rule out “bigger moves” in retaliation. However, according to AP, one expert, professor Jin Cairong of Renmin University in Beijing, believes that the Sino-US bilateral ties are more important than the Tibetan issue. With the approaching date of Hu Jintao’s visit to the U.S. this year and the new round of Sino-US Strategic and Economic Dialogue, China and the U.S. need to cooperate more.

Source: Ming Pao Daily, January 20, 2010
http://www.mingpaotor.com/htm/News/20100220/tcab1.htm

Obama’s reforms did not change his Feb 18 meeting with Dalai Lama, a Xinua article commented. Since President Bush’s first meeting with the Dalai Lama in 1991, three U.S. presidents had met with the Dalai Lama eleven times before the February 18 meeting. Why hasn’t Obama reformed this practice, asked the article. “It is based on the U.S. cold war mentality and one of the many cards in the pursuit of the US strategic interests.” The article states that it is high time for the U.S. to adopt a new way of thinking in handling the bilateral relationship.

Source: Xinhua, February 19, 2010
http://news.xinhuanet.com/world/2010-02/19/content_13005223.htm

State media have extensively reported overseas Chinese opposition to Obama’s February 18 meeting with the Dalai Lama. Xinhua, People’s Daily and China News Service reported that leaders in the overseas Chinese communities protested, via media interviews, forums, rallies and letters, against Obama, in unison with the China’s official stance on the Dalai Lama meeting. Such actions as reported (in answering the call of the Communist Party to stay with the Party line) have raised concerns that they may further widen the gap between Chinese communities and the mainstream in their respective countries, aggravating an image crisis.

Source: Boxun, February 20, 2010
http://news.boxun.com/news/gb/intl/2010/02/201002200128.shtml

After the New York Times reported that the hacker attack on Google could be traced back to the IP addresses of the Shanghai Jiao Tong University and Lanxiang Vocational School, China denied such accusations.

Shanghai Jiao Tong University, a top engineering university in China whose computer students recently won the International Collegiate Programming Contest, responded that the university would not now support and has not in the past supported hacker activities. It suggested that some international hackers might have stolen their IPs to use in the attack.

Officials from the Lanxiang Vocational School, with ties to the Chinese military, said “(The report was) too imaginative.”

China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Qin Gang, strongly denied the accusation and said it was irresponsible and must have resulted from some hidden agenda.

Source: Hong Kong Wenweipo, February 23, 2010
http://trans.wenweipo.com/gb/news.wenweipo.com/2010/02/23/IN1002230070.htm

Recently, many major Chinese websites widely republished an article against Obama. The article was originally published on the official site of Guangming Daily, a Beijing City based national newspaper. The author, Fu Yi, claimed “Nobel Prize winner Obama” finally revealed his “scary pseudo-peace” face. The article mentioned the arms sale to Taiwan, which is “opposed by both sides of the Strait” as well as the “splitter and terrorist” Dalai Lama’s visit to the White House. As the people of a rising world power, the author believes, 1.3 billion Chinese are not “easily threatened” – they all “despise” Obama.

Source: Guangming Daily, February 5, 2010
http://guancha.gmw.cn/content/2010-02/05/content_1050439.htm

The Speaker of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ma Zhaoxu, commented on the Dalai Lama’s visit to US: The United States disregarded China’s repeated solemn representations on Dalai’s visit to the White House. President Obama met him in the Map Room on February 18. The move of the US government was severely contrary to the basic norms governing international relations, violated the three Sino-US joint communiqués as well as the principles set in the Sino-US Joint Statement, broke the repeated US promise of recognition of Tibet being part of China and the promise of not supporting Tibetan independence. China is hereby expressing strong dissatisfaction and opposition. China demands the United States take the Chinese position seriously and take immediate action to eliminate the pernicious impact. The United States should stop conniving with the Tibetan anti-China splitters, stop interfering in China’s internal affairs and take concrete steps to maintain the healthy development of the Sino-US relationship.

Source: Xinhua, February 19, 2010
http://news.xinhuanet.com/world/2010-02/19/content_13005278.htm

Xinhua reported on February 10th that China’s Ministry of Education will implement a “Study in China Program” and receive 100,000 American students to study in China.

The number of foreign students in China is constantly growing. In 1998, 43,000 foreign students studied in China; in 2002, the foreign students increased to 86,000. By 2005, there were up to 140,000 foreign students, from more than 190 countries and regions, studying in China.

Source: Xinhua, February 10, 2010
http://news.xinhuanet.com/edu/2010-02/10/content_12964411.htm

According to various Chinese official media, Chinese American organizations and individuals have recently lodged strong protests against President Obama’s meeting with the Dalai Lama in the White House. They include the following: