WASHINGTON, 22 April 2006 — Chinese President Hu Jintao wrapped up his four-day US tour yesterday at Yale University, where he offered reassurances that China seeks a peaceful rise to economic prosperity, a theme he articulated this week at a Boeing jet plant and the White House.
During their meeting in Washington on Thursday, President Bush urged Hu to allow more fluency in China’s currency and help ease the sizable trade imbalance between the two countries.
Although Bush and Hu both agreed that they had a productive meeting, US critics of China’s trade policies had a different view.
“The president failed to make any significant progress in talks with his Chinese counterpart,” complained Kevin Kearns, the president of the US Business and Industry Council, which represents around 1,500 small and medium-sized manufacturing companies.
Hu’s visit to Yale began with a private reception in President Richard Levin’s office, where Hu presented Yale with a donation of books from China.
Series of Errors at the White House
The Chinese president’s last American engagement before leaving for an official visit to Saudi Arabia was preceded by a series of errors on the White House lawn on Thursday during his official arrival ceremony by President Bush.
President Hu’s visit was much anticipated, but speculation is that he left the White House wondering how many of the calamities that befell him there on Pennsylvania Avenue were accidental, or perhaps a conspiracy.
Look at the facts: The White House meeting between Bush and Hu did not go well. The first hint came when, before the cameras, Bush thanked Hu for his “frankness” during their meeting. Everyone knows this is diplomatic code for disagreement. Hu remained expressionless.
An even greater hint of bad vibes between the two men — Hu was not, shall we say, enthusiastic with Bush’s demands to expand Chinese consumption of US goods, enforce intellectual property rights, and allow freedom to assemble, speak and worship — happened when the two leaders unexpectedly agreed to take questions from reporters.
Bush grew increasingly impatient as Hu gave a long answer about trade, made even longer by the translation. At one point Bush’s impatience was clear when he began tapping foot on the ground while waiting for Hu to stop. Once he did, Bush looked up and said: “That was a very comprehensive answer.”
Also, it’s never good form when the US president has to apologize to a Chinese president for a protest during an elaborate welcoming ceremony on the White House lawn. And it just happened to be the first disruption at the White House in recent memory.
As President Hu began speaking, Wang Wenyi, who had been granted a one-day press pass to the event, began shrieking in Chinese and in heavily-accented English: “President Bush, stop him from killing” and “President Bush, stop him from persecuting the Falun Gong”.
Bush, standing next to Hu, leaned over and whispered to him, “You’re OK,” indicating the Chinese leader should proceed with his opening remarks. Hu, who had paused briefly, and who looked stunned when the shouting began, resumed speaking.
But Wang continued shouting for several minutes before Secret Service agents were able to make their way to her position at the top of the camera stand. “It took so long to silence her — a full three minutes — that Bush aides began to wonder if the Secret Service’s strategy was to let her scream herself hoarse,” noted the Washington Post. She was finally led off the stand. The incident did not bode well with the Chinese — who cut their TV coverage of the event until calm was restored.
Chinese leaders place high importance on symbolism and protocol. And as White House officials have worked with Chinese counterparts for months on every detail of Hu’s visit, many now wonder how this “slipped” between the cracks.
Bush later spoke of the matter at a meeting with Hu in the Oval Office. “He just said this was unfortunate and I’m sorry it happened,” said Dennis Wilder, acting senior director for Asian affairs on the National Security Council staff.
“I would be extremely surprised if the Chinese blamed us for this,” Wilder said.
But would they blame Bush for unceremoniously grabbing Hu by his jacket when Hu attempted to leave the stage by the wrong steps?
“Hu looked down at his sleeve the see the president of the United States tugging at it as if redirecting an errant child,” noted the Washington Post.
Nor was that the end of it. There was yet another diplomatic hiccup when the official White House announcer said the band would play the “national anthem of the Republic of China,” — which is the official name of Taiwan. Oops.
“It’s hugely embarrassing,” Derek Mitchell, a former Asia adviser at the Pentagon and now an analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told journalists. — With additional input from Associated Press.
