Wall Street Journal: Obama, Hu Highlight Cooperation
By IAN JOHNSON and JONATHAN WEISMAN
BEIJING-- U.S. President Barack Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao ended a morning of talks Tuesday pledging broad cooperation on a range of issues, while also highlighting remaining differences between the two sides.
In formal statements delivered after the talks and broadcast live on Chinese state television, Mr. Hu challenged Washington on trade and what China sees as rising protectionism. Mr. Obama, often looking down at the lectern and appearing distracted as Mr. Hu spoke, used the appearance to urge Beijing to resume talks with the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual leader whom Chinese authorities see as a separatist.
The statements ended the most substantive part of Mr. Obama's first visit to China, which continued Tuesday afternoon with a sightseeing tour and a formal state dinner. Underscoring the fact that such summits have now become routine, no historic agreements were reached--nor were any expected--and no major initiatives announced. The two sides did issue a joint statement that summarized the content of their talks and positions on key points.
Mr. Hu and Mr. Obama have met several time already this year at international conferences, but the U.S. leader's visit was a chance for the two countries to focus on their bilateral relationship completely for a couple of days.
"We meet at a time when the relationship between the United States and China has never been more important to our collective future," Mr. Obama said during the joint press appearance, which was broadcast live on Chinese state television. "The major challenges of the 21st century...touch both our nations."
Mr. Hu seemed to concur, saying in his statement that "the two sides reached broad, important agreement" on key points. Both countries agreed to work harder for a global economic recovery, to contain Iran's nuclear ambitions and for a successful outcome at next month's climate-change talks in Copenhagen. They also pledged to continue numerous working-level bodies and to improve military-to-military ties.
The two men--who did not take questions and gave separate accounts of their talks without interaction--didn't exactly trade zingers. But they did emphasize different aspects of the talks, sometimes hinting at conflicts.
China, for example, has repeatedly opposed the growing tide of protectionism in the U.S. and has previously criticized Mr. Obama for recently slapping tariffs on some Chinese goods. Mr. Hu emphasized this.
"I stressed to President Obama that under the current circumstances, our two countries need to oppose and reject protectionism in all its manifestations in an even stronger stand," he said.
Mr. Hu also repeated a long-standing argument in China that its "national conditions" are different from those of the U.S. and thus it takes different positions. This is usually used to counter U.S. requests for China to adhere to U.S. ideals on human rights.
And indeed, Mr. Obama repeated his assertion that all people share fundamental human rights. He also called on China to resume dialogue with Tibet's spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama - a longstanding U.S. position but one that has rarely, if ever, been advocated on Chinese TV. He also reaffirmed prior U.S. statements that a human rights dialogue between China and the U.S. would continue early next year.
Mr. Obama also put stronger emphasis on Iran's nuclear program, declaring--which Mr. Hu did not--that "on this point, our two nations...are unified." He also said that if Iran does not prove that its nuclear program is peaceful, "there will be consequences."
Mr. Obama also expressed pleasure at China's long-standing pledge to move toward a more market-based exchange rate over time, something Mr. Hu did not mention. "I emphasized in our discussions and with others in the region that doing so based on economic fundamentals would make an essential contribution to the global economic (situation)."
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