on November 19, 2009. Filed under Special Report: President Obama's November 2009 Trip to Asia , China, United States.
President Obama’s Visit: A New Milestone for the Beijing-Washington Relationship
US President Barack Obama’s China visit concluded in the late afternoon of November 18, 2009, after swiftly surveying the land of the oldest civilization in the world. In the short time span of three days, he stopped at Shanghai talking about his conception of American values before four hundred students; walked into the People’s Hall, a centerpiece of Beijing’s architecture since end of the 1950s and the seat of China’s political establishment, to meet with his Chinese counterpart President Hu Jintao and to speak at a joint press conference. He also chatted with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, toured the Forbidden City, and climbed the Great Wall in the footsteps of his predecessors Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, who all chose to visit the Wall for their sight-seeing. Despite a very short visit, the effects of President Obama’s visit are likely not yet fully understood, but rather a sort of shock which is still rippling out.
The significance of his visit does not lie in its tribute to Chinese leadership. Any argument to this effect is bitter, tedious and misleading. His visit was actually meant to lay out new groundwork for both countries to strengthen cooperation and push forth the concerted diplomacy. Also, his visit is a brilliant promotion of American policy of China in the new era, when bilateral ties have never been more important for the future of peace, stability and prosperity. Moreover, his visit is a great effort to solidify collaboration with admiration for Chinese civilization and goodwill, rather than confrontation, deferring to basic human conscience.
Many Chinese clearly read the message President Obama firmly and unambiguously delivered to China and Chinese people along his Asian tour. He made the point at Tokyo “US has no intent to contain China” and “China’s rise will offer new source of new growth and momentum.” Such policy clarity is very timely and important as some Chinese hardliners still retain the conviction that the US has conspired to ward off China’s ascent. Of course, President Obama dealt with his China concerns in a very direct way and pulled no punches. He said to President Hu Jintao “America’s bedrock beliefs that all men and women possess certain fundamental human rights,” “are universal rights”, and “should be available to all people.”
Both in rhetoric and gesture, President Obama presented his graceful moderation. He didn’t want to leave the impression with Chinese people that he is a mere westernized cleric of democracy. Instead, he performed the role in China to steadily address American concerns while creating the momentum for expected resonation. Obviously, he is not a magician who could make water part, but he is a leader who truly knows how to get things moving in a sound direction. In a state like China, no magic upshot could be unilaterally desired.
Thus the significance of his visit can be gauged not by how much concession he achieved from Chinese side, but by how well-received his goodwill, crystal clear message and his vision, a purely distinctive and extraordinary Obama vision, were, and how it helped in the handling of “important but complicated” relations between Washington and Beijing.
Yes, it appears that President Obama yielded little achievement from his China tour in the terms of a long list of American anxieties about China, such as Iranian issue, concern about balanced trade, CNY revaluation and even emission reductions. However, China would have similarly complained a lot if the success of President Obama’s visit was assessed based only on how many items from this list the two sides agreed on. Beijing had a long list of concerns, also, which have been left aside. In particular, China protests U.S. trade protectionism. President Obama ceded nothing to his Chinese counterparts.
Pleasingly, both the leaders—President Obama and President Hu—have signed up to a historic “Joint Statement.” With full coverage of almost every corner of their bilateral relationship, the statement listed up their enormous contending concerns and, meanwhile, set forth refreshing guiding principles to address them. There is no doubt that, the central achievement of this document is the establishment of “cooperation, reciprocity and mutual respect.”
That’s enough for the moment. Surely, the U.S. and China will face many political, economic and possibly military challenges in the future. Merely talking is far from enough, and acting and responding benignly will definitely be required. If that is the way forward, tying our relations tightly to “cooperation, reciprocity and mutual respect” is an important start.