Supreme Leader of China to meet with B.O. and other people

[SinoChallenger]

This is walking into the lair of the tiger and telling the tiger we are going to chase it away out of East Asia.


China heir apparent to visit White House in February

By Shaun Tandon (AFP)

WASHINGTON — China's Vice President Xi Jinping will visit the White House on February 14, officials said, as the United States seeks to nurture a relationship with the Asian power's presumptive next leader.

The White House said that Xi will meet President Barack Obama for the Valentine's Day talks and also visit California and Iowa, where the 58-year-old paid a formative visit to the United States in 1985.

Xi, who is expected to become China's president in 2013, will also meet Vice President Joe Biden and other senior US officials "to discuss a broad range of bilateral, regional and global issues," a White House statement said Monday.

Xi's tour of the United States follows Biden's unusually long five-day visit to China in August, part of efforts by the Obama administration to court the leader-in-waiting about whom little is known in Washington.

The US relationship with China has become increasingly fractious over a range of security and economic issues. On a November trip to Asia, Obama irked Beijing with a robust defense of freedom of navigation in the South China Sea.

Washington has been pressing Beijing to allow its yuan to rise to a more market oriented level against the dollar and accuses Beijing of engineering an artificially low value of the currency to boost its economy.

Xi will come to the United States during the early throes of the US presidential election race, in which Republican candidates have accused Obama of being intimidated by Beijing on trade and currency issues.

Gary Locke, the US ambassador to China, said last week that Xi was "very personable" but acknowledged that the United States had few insights into how he would differ from President Hu Jintao.
"We really don't know that much about him," Locke told "The Charlie Rose Show" on US public television during a return visit to arrange Xi's trip.

"We don't know how he would respond to some of these economic issues, which is why it's so important that we establish that relationship as quickly as possible," Locke said.

Locke said that China's communist system -- with a politburo announcing collective decisions -- made it difficult to figure out where each leader stood.

"If the past is any guide, the first year or so decisions might be rather reserved and you will not really see any change or departure," Locke said.

Locke said that Xi appeared to have a had a positive impression of the United States from his 1985 trip to Iowa, which he visited on an exchange when he served as a low-ranking officer in Hebei County.

"He has fond memories of the Midwest and is very familiar with our agricultural sector," Locke said.
Taiwan's President Ma Ying-jeou, a proponent of warmer relations with mainland China, said he has closely watched Xi and did not see "any significant difference from the current leader."

Xi's visit is expected to draw street protests from human rights advocates. China since last year has carried out a sweeping crackdown on dissent and keeps in prison outspoken writer Liu Xiaobo, winner of the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize.

Tibet has also been tense with at least 16 Tibetans -- mostly young monks -- setting themselves on fire since March to protest what they see as restrictions on political and religious freedoms in the predominantly Buddhist region.

Sophie Richardson, the advocacy director of Human Rights Watch's Asia decision, said that the Obama administration should make "absolutely, unambiguously clear" to Xi that human rights were central to US-China ties.

She also called on the Obama administration to meet with Chinese dissidents such as Yu Jie, the author of a critical book on Premier Wen Jiabao who fled to the United States this month after suffering what he said was torture.

"The administration has to find a way to make its rhetorical commitment to supporting human rights more real," Richardson said.

"They should hear the views of the people the Chinese government tortures, in addition to those of the Chinese government itself," she said.

AFP: China heir apparent to visit White House in February

 

[pmukherjee]

That is entirely your opinion. The US as a Pacific Ocean Naval power has every right to be in East Asia which is a part of the Pacific. Moreover, the US has been present in East Asia for a very long time since the Spanish-American war of 1898. Kindly read the history of Philippines. The US also defeated Japan which was the dominant East Asian nation for almost half of the last century. The British, Australians and New Zealanders had a lesser role to play in the defeat of Japan. All these are valid reasons for American presence in East Asia. Anyway most of your East Asian neighbours want them to be here, so basically you have no case.

I am no apologist for America but merely want to point out certain hard facts. I am sure your Supreme leader has reasons other than those stated by you.

 

[CommonCause]

I don't really like nation building because I'm more of a Libertarian, but as an American I can understand the perspective. Right now it's in our interest to have a presence in the Asia-Pacific region, and we still have a muscle to do so.

I do think, though, that in the coming decades our presence will decline as China rises militarily and we having to face our debt and entitlement issues.

 

[LetsGetRowdy]

Xi, who is expected to become China's president in 2013

where did they get 2013 from? it's 2012! this year

 

[ChuaTroi]

where did they get 2013 from? it's 2012! this year

President of part first, but for China's president title is just waiting for national assembly approval.

 

[below_freezing]

That is entirely your opinion. The US as a Pacific Ocean Naval power has every right to be in East Asia which is a part of the Pacific. Moreover, the US has been present in East Asia for a very long time since the Spanish-American war of 1898. Kindly read the history of Philippines. The US also defeated Japan which was the dominant East Asian nation for almost half of the last century. The British, Australians and New Zealanders had a lesser role to play in the defeat of Japan. All these are valid reasons for American presence in East Asia. Anyway most of your East Asian neighbours want them to be here, so basically you have no case.

I am no apologist for America but merely want to point out certain hard facts. I am sure your Supreme leader has reasons other than those stated by you.

the US does not have any right to be in East Asia. Its territory ends at occupied Hawaii.