Chinese govt must learn to catch slippery Obama's flip flops
- Source: Global Times
- [21:05 February 08 2010]
- Comments
By Sun Weichi
From the Google incident to US arms sales to Taiwan, Sino-US relations seem to have sunk to new depths from what seemed like a peak.
It has been only a few months since US president Barack Obama's visit to China.
In the future, there may be more incidents, such as a possible meeting between Obama and the Dalai Lama, that will cause more tensions in bilateral relations.
Sino-US relations depend on joint efforts. But China has not yet found the proper way to deal with Obama, which is important in maintaining the development of Sino-US relations.
Let us first look at an interesting issue. After the strong reaction of the Chinese government to the arms sales to Taiwan, some mainstream US media soon expressed that they hope the Obama administration can also take a hardline attitude and even fight back against China.
Such news stories seem to deliver the message that Obama was submissive to the Chinese government and that the Chinese government has always held a hard-line attitude toward the US.
This is certainly not true. But after Obama took office, he did show more enthusiasm toward China than his predecessors. Is Obama really weak?
During Obama's first year in office, the problems in internal affairs have not been well solved.
However, Obama has tried to regain support through healthcare reform. Also, in his State of the Union address, Obama listed domestic affairs, especially employment, as his main priority, which showed his keen ability to adapt to events.
Domestic affairs are now given higher priority than foreign affairs. People hope the US government can solve the problems in healthcare and employment.
Recently, the US government announced it had temporarily abandoned plans for a return to the moon, showing, to some degree, its resolution to focus on issues closer to home.
Diplomatically, Obama's visit to China is undoubtedly the most important diplomatic activity during the year. Considering Obama spoke with respect for China's interests and values, he really left a good impression on China.
It was hard to imagine that Sino-US relations would cool so rapidly, but this started to happen at the Copenhagen climate change conference, not long after Obama's visit to China.
According to China's logic, the Obama administration has changed position too fast, while from the US government's point of view, all they have done is to safeguard national interests.
For example, Obama promised during his election campaign to close the Guantanamo prison.
Only a few hours after the inauguration, he ordered the end of the ongoing trials at Guantanamo Special Court; on the next day, he signed the decree to close Guantanamo prison within one year. Of course, one year later, the decree has not been implemented.
