Obama in China: Tuesday morning edition
It’s November, which is one of the worst times to visit Beijing. The other bad times include December, January, Chinese New Years, March, April, May 1st Holiday, June, July, August, the first part of September, and the October 1st holiday.
November is cold, it is gray and dusty, and the city folk are in dark moods as they stack cabbage and coal and prepare to hunker down for five months of winter.
But none of that matters to Barack Obama. And we must thank the president (or so goes the rumor mill in my hutong) for inspiring the Beijing weather gnomes over the past few weeks to cast their spell for early snow and crisp blue skies with a thin dollop of white stuff to cover the usual Beijing beige.
Yesterday, President Obama participated in a “Town Hall meeting” in Shanghai with the youth in Asia. Now I grew up in New Hampshire so I know a thing or two about town hall meetings, but yesterday’s event (highlightshere) was so tightly scripted and cautious it made the Republican National Convention look like Burning Man.
Adam Minter at Shanghai Scrap offers his thoughts, writing that President Obama’s performance resembled “an overly coached American businessman on his first trip to China, so concerned about what he should or should not say that he forgets what he wanted to say in the first place, and ends up going home with nothing but a hotel bill and empty promises.” Ouch.
I agree though, for the greatest orator of our time you would think President Obama might have been able to come up with a phrase more elegant than “I support non-censorship.”
Well, that’s just great, Barack. Thanks! I personally oppose not getting ice cream for my birthday and I am firmly in support of not-drunk airline pilots.
Not that most “mainstream” Chinese (thank you, Wang Zheng) cared or even noticed, or for that matter had any idea it was happening. Access to the feed was limited (in contrast to past presidential visits) and there was no mention of the event on the 7:00 Evening News.
In the end, Barack Obama’s steadfast support for “non-censorship” was, you guessed it…censored.
Frankly, nothing makes the Chinese government and the CCP look more like a bunch of scared old men than restricting access to information, and there is no greater obstacle to international respectability for the PRC than the continued suppression of dissent. That, and their bizarre fixation on t-shirts.
It’s like the guy who swears his wife and kids love him, but then you find out that he has an anger problem, and that every so often he smacks around the kids and beats his wife. Now…they very well MIGHT love the guy, but you’re always going to have your suspicions otherwise.
(By the way, be sure and read Isaac Mao’s excellent essay on Internet censorship and the recent meeting between US officials and a select group of Chinese bloggers.)
Finally, from the same group that brought you Oba-Mao and flaming statues of the U.S. President…And no, I’m not talking about the Tea Party movement or Michelle Bachmann’s latest fundraiser, I mean the Chinese artistic community…we now have “Doughbama” and a sculpture of Barack made entirely of human hair.
Bundle up.
奥巴马在四天三夜密集的访华行程中，独选较为敢言的《南方周末》进行专访，而非新华社和CCTV，传闻此举由胡锦涛最后拍板，但因事前未与江系李长春掌控的中宣部协商，引发中宣部随即的报复性打压。 《南方周末》大胆以开天窗的方式，表达对中宣部的抗议，这一挑战江系李长春之举，据信与胡锦涛和奥巴马的双重撑台有关。《南方周末》终于引爆了被外界认为是奥巴马临走前留下的“自由炸弹” 。分析人士指出，中宣部若对南周有过份举动，很可能涉及奥巴马访中成果的评议，引发进一步的外交风波。 点南周 奥巴马突袭成功
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via 阿波罗网 on 11/21/09
奥巴马在四天三夜密集的访华行程中，独选较为敢言的《南方周末》进行专访，而非新华社和CCTV，传闻此举由胡锦涛最后拍板，但因事前未与江系李长春掌控的中宣部协商，引发中宣部随即的报复性打压。 《南方周末》大胆以开天窗的方式，表达对中宣部的抗议，这一挑战江系李长春之举，据信与胡锦涛和奥巴马的双重撑台有关。《南方周末》终于引爆了被外界认为是奥巴马临走前留下的“自由炸弹” 。分析人士指出，中宣部若对南周有过份举动，很可能涉及奥巴马访中成果的评议，引发进一步的外交风波。 点南周 奥巴马突袭成功 据美国之音...
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