China hits the mute button on Obama

posted at 11:36 am on November 18, 2009 by Ed Morrissey
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If Barack Obama hoped to make a positive impression on the Chinese people, his trip to Beijing was not terribly successful — but in this case, it wasn’t the fault of Obama.  China’s leaders made sure that Obama didn’t get the chance, by blacking out domestic media coverage of his visit.  In the words of the AP, Hu Jintao and the Chinese government “stifled Obama’s charisma”:

But in China, Obama’s hosts successfully stifled those prodigious public talents, keeping his message from the people with media censorship and smothering it in staid diplo-speak.

On previous foreign trips in his taxing first year in office, the president sent inspiring words winging to millions of satellite dishes in the Muslim world and sparked Obama mania in Europe.

But in China, it has been tougher to reach out to ordinary citizens. His best attempt, a town hall meeting streamed on the White House website, suffered from what was largely a nationwide media blackout.

Not that Obama helped his own cause, either. The AP seems unusually critical of Obama’s lack of charisma when he did have the stage:

And Obama’s talks on Tuesday with President Hu Jintao were followed by a dull public appearance, with both leaders reading out statements to the media stuffed with diplomatic code words.

The US president shuffled his papers on the lectern, scratched an eyebrow and looked across at Hu, as his host read out a long speech. The arid diplomatic translations made the occasion seem even more sterile.

It’s an interesting report, mainly for how the AP reports on the trip, which resulted in no movement from the status quo.  Stephen Collinson reports that Obama is playing for “the long game,” happy to meet with Hu even if the meeting didn’t produce any agreements or changes.  Obama will take “domestic hits” over a “lack of progress now,” he says, hopeful that his visit will build a relationship where he can make progress later.

That’s a rather odd take.  After all, Obama hasn’t exactly improved the US-China relationship in his first year in office; in fact, he’s actively made it worse by hitting China with two trade tariffs and threatened a trade war during a global recession.  No one expected Obama to transform China into a popular democracy with one televised appearance, which seems to be the strawman the AP uses for other potential critics.  People did expect Obama to repair the relationship and clean up his own mess, which apparently didn’t happen, or at least the AP didn’t report it if he did.

The actions of Hu come as no surprise, but it does point out the difficulties in dealing with China and its formidable, oppressive government.  They have no desire to let the US infect its population with notions of liberty, whether the carrier is George Bush, Barack Obama, or Paris Hilton.  Trade will force them to be more open, but only to a point.

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