After reading this article in Saturday's The Washington Post, one might be excused for drawing a parallel with President Obama's decision to improve people-to-people communications with Cuba.
"President Obama is planning to refocus attention on China's record of suppressing free speech and political freedom in the coming weeks, despite the risk of further destabilizing an important relationship after a contentious year," writes Scott Wilson in The Post.
"After elevating human rights as a guiding principle of his foreign policy at the United Nations last fall, Obama has been looking for ways to engage China's leaders on the issue without undermining his efforts to enlist their help in dealing with Iran and North Korea, and in reviving the world economy.
"Senior administration officials say he is exploring ways to better reach Chinese citizens directly, perhaps by using technology unavailable to many of his predecessors.
"He has also been seeking advice from Chinese dissidents and human rights advocates ahead of President Hu Jintao's state visit next week. On Thursday, Obama met for more than an hour
"While economic and security issues are likely to be the focus of Hu's visit, how Obama manages the topic of human rights will help define his summit with Hu and provide clues to how the president intends to speak with China in the years ahead about political prisoners, an inconsistent rule of law and a repressed civil society."
To read the whole article, click here.
The US is just an imperialist bully to Cuba but the empire is too broke to try playing the bully to its Chinese banker.
Posted by: Richard Cheeseman | January 18, 2011 at 08:17 PM