NO AGREEMENTS, BUT OBAMA'S CHINA VISIT MATTERS NONETHELESS
Sam Roggeveen
Sam Roggeveen
The Age, November 17, 2009
With no specific policy initiatives emerging from US President Barack Obama's China visit, China's netizens are left to ponder pieces of symbolism and trivia. Why were "ObaMao" T-shirts banned during the President's visit? Was Obama too deferential on Chinese censorship or did he subtly criticise China's great firewall? And what can we read into the fact that Obama carried his own umbrella when he disembarked from Air Force One at Shanghai airport?
The American media, meanwhile, is preoccupied with Afghanistan. Obama is due to make an announcement about troop levels in coming days; he may even tack a trip to Kabul on the end of his Asia itinerary. And, as this Wall Street Journal article points out, many of the issues that divide the US and China — the valuation of China's currency, concrete meaures on North Korea and Iran, climate change — are pretty intractable, meaning concrete results from the rest of the trip are unlikely.
So is this whole visit a non-event? Not really. Even if no agreements are signed or initiatives launched, it matters when the leaders of two of the most powerful countries on earth get together. And specifically, it matters how these two giants view their respective roles in the world, and how they accomodate the preferences and needs of the other. To that end, the most significant part so far of Obama's trip came before he even arrived in China, in the speech he gave in Tokyo on the first leg of his Asia tour.
With no specific policy initiatives emerging from US President Barack Obama's China visit, China's netizens are left to ponder pieces of symbolism and trivia. Why were "ObaMao" T-shirts banned during the President's visit? Was Obama too deferential on Chinese censorship or did he subtly criticise China's great firewall? And what can we read into the fact that Obama carried his own umbrella when he disembarked from Air Force One at Shanghai airport?
The American media, meanwhile, is preoccupied with Afghanistan. Obama is due to make an announcement about troop levels in coming days; he may even tack a trip to Kabul on the end of his Asia itinerary. And, as this Wall Street Journal article points out, many of the issues that divide the US and China — the valuation of China's currency, concrete meaures on North Korea and Iran, climate change — are pretty intractable, meaning concrete results from the rest of the trip are unlikely.
So is this whole visit a non-event? Not really. Even if no agreements are signed or initiatives launched, it matters when the leaders of two of the most powerful countries on earth get together. And specifically, it matters how these two giants view their respective roles in the world, and how they accomodate the preferences and needs of the other. To that end, the most significant part so far of Obama's trip came before he even arrived in China, in the speech he gave in Tokyo on the first leg of his Asia tour.
First, note the symbolism of the Japan-first itinerary. When Prime Minister Kevin Rudd overlooked Tokyo for his first overseas tour but did visit Beijing, the Japanese were none too pleased. At the time, I defended Rudd, and I maintain there is too much emphasis on such details. But Japan was similarly upset when Bill Clinton just flew by Japan on his way to a nine-day China visit in 1998. The Obama team was clearly deferring to Japanese sensitivities by going to Tokyo first, though Obama spent less than 24 hours in Japan before his two-and-a-half day visit to China.
(...) [artículo aquí]
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