Boorish by Design?
Yesterday, when Chinese President Hu Jintao was on the South Lawn of the White House giving a speech, a Chinese Falun Gong supporter who had sneeked in with the press was permitted to scream at Hu for 3 minutes straight before anyone even tried to stop her. This had been preceded by an incident where Hu was walking the wrong way in the White House Garden and Bush grabbed his suit sleeve and pulled him back on track like he was a child. Basically the whole afternoon appears to have amounted to a diplomatic fiasco that Hu and the Chinese Government will probably never forget.
Don't get me wrong, I have plenty of criticism for the Chinese leadership, but this display of inconsiderate and dismissive treatment on the part of the hosts is something that the Chinese would never allow to happen to ANY head of state visiting their country. For that matter, it was something that my Norwegian ancestors would have said, "Is at home in no place." No state visit in Europe or Asia permits a visiting head of state to be harangued at close range for three minutes by a screaming demonstrator. And the dragging of the sleeve thing was caught on film, and let me tell you, as someone that has lived in Asia, it looks bad. It is a face-losing, humiliating thing for the Chinese President, and that will only make the Chinese people back him and the Communist Party up more than they otherwise would be inclined to do. That is bad for us and bad for them. Blood is definitely thicker than just about anything else in China, and what the Chinese people will see in this is yet another bit of proof that China itself and the mainland Chinese people are not respected in the West. Maybe it's not true but it IS how they will see it.
As for Falun Gong, they will never represent mainstream China and to indulge them at the expense of the 1.1 billion non-Falun Gong folks is just moronic.
The worst thing is, I think this may have all been by design. I am not convinced that it was all an accident. Were Bush and Co. playing to their base by showing middle America the extent to which they don't have to be respectful of the Chinese? Were they saying in their own way, "Look how strong we are, we don't have to kowtow to no Chinaman." Could be.
Don't get me wrong, I have plenty of criticism for the Chinese leadership, but this display of inconsiderate and dismissive treatment on the part of the hosts is something that the Chinese would never allow to happen to ANY head of state visiting their country. For that matter, it was something that my Norwegian ancestors would have said, "Is at home in no place." No state visit in Europe or Asia permits a visiting head of state to be harangued at close range for three minutes by a screaming demonstrator. And the dragging of the sleeve thing was caught on film, and let me tell you, as someone that has lived in Asia, it looks bad. It is a face-losing, humiliating thing for the Chinese President, and that will only make the Chinese people back him and the Communist Party up more than they otherwise would be inclined to do. That is bad for us and bad for them. Blood is definitely thicker than just about anything else in China, and what the Chinese people will see in this is yet another bit of proof that China itself and the mainland Chinese people are not respected in the West. Maybe it's not true but it IS how they will see it.
As for Falun Gong, they will never represent mainstream China and to indulge them at the expense of the 1.1 billion non-Falun Gong folks is just moronic.
The worst thing is, I think this may have all been by design. I am not convinced that it was all an accident. Were Bush and Co. playing to their base by showing middle America the extent to which they don't have to be respectful of the Chinese? Were they saying in their own way, "Look how strong we are, we don't have to kowtow to no Chinaman." Could be.
Posted at 4/21/2006 03:03:00 PM UTC
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2 Comment(s):
I haven't seen the tugging footage, but it won't play well I'm sure.
However, this was not a state visit I don't believe. Something just below. I guess no review of the guard is the difference?
BTW, Hu first visited Seattle before D.C. Looks like we were more gacious hosts than you lot were. He met with Governor Gregoire, Bill Gates and Boeing. Lots of smiles, handshakes and hugs.
I think he'll leave the US like this Washington far better than your Washington.
Please don't say that Bill Gates is progressive. I am going to vomit the next time I hear a liberal say Bill Gates is progressive. The guy wants frigging charter schools. The guy gives money to Republicans. This guy is the American counterpart of Hu, a total monopolistic dictator who has no concern for the welfare of the poor. This man is no progressive. And liberals from Washington State need to stop kissing his ass because he's throwing money around. Look how well that did at keeping Boeing?
Or how about the Seattle Supersonics threatening to pack up and leave unless we give them a hundred million dollars? I say f these g-damn billionaire bitches. Let's pass some legislation that hoses them and makes us all healthy and well-funded so we can go about building an economy that doesn't serve the interests of the super-rich. Let's stop being suckers in this race-to-the-bottom economy.
Bill Gates is a punk. Use Firefox, the best open-source, totally free, totally revolutionary web browser. I don't pitch it because I make any dough, I really do hate Microsoft and their sickass corporate business practices.
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