Hu faces ‘more assertive’ America on his visit over trade-currency-HR violation concerns
By ANIWednesday, January 19, 2011
WASHINGTON - Chinese President Hu Jintao might have arrived Washington with a view to improve bilateral ties between the two nations ahead of his retirement in 2012, but is likely to face a ‘more assertive’ America in the wake of serious concerns relating to currency, the trade imbalance, human rights and China’s military stance, political analysts say.
“Despite the positive rhetoric surrounding the Hu visit, the Obama administration today has a greater sense of the limits of cooperation with China. The administration will of necessity continue to engage China on global and regional issues, but with diminished expectations,” the Washington Post quoted said Daniel Kliman, a visitor at the Center for a New American Security, as saying.
He further said that US President Barack Obama might have begun his administration apparently keeping in mind that favouring China could help him win the support that country, but his Government has now realised that “you can’t bank goodwill in Beijing. Rather, standing firm is the more effective approach”.
The decision to deal with China sternly follows Obama being criticised for his benevolence during his 2009 visit to China, and for allowing Beijing to gain the upper hand against Washington at the G-20 Summit in Seoul last year.
Earlier, Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner had said the US would allow China more access to hi-tech American products and expand trade and investment opportunities in Washington provided American products are allowed into the Chinese market. Geithner said China’s policy of keeping the renminbi cheap “sets off a dangerous dynamic” that encourages other countries to follow suit and risks touching off a destructive competition for jobs and trade.
Last week, Obama met with Chinese dissidents and human rights advocates to discuss and figure out ways to improve Beijing’s negative records of human rights violations, leading to imprisonment of several activists speaking against the regime. (ANI)
