By Aaron Goldstein
The Copenhagen Summit might very well prove to be a crucial turning point in American history. The summit produced an agreement on greenhouse gas emissions which the Obama Administration describes as "meaningful and unprecedented." (1)
But President Obama sought a legally binding agreement. The Chinese did not budge an inch. The only thing here that is "meaningful and unprecedented" is that China has effectively supplanted the United States as the most powerful nation in the world under Obama's watch. When President Obama arrived for his talk with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao near the end of the summit, our Commander in Chief asked, "Mr. Premier, are you ready to see me? Are you ready?" When President Obama has to ask Premier Wen if he is ready to see him it tells you who is running the show. What if Wen had told Obama to take a hike? For all intents and purposes, Obama bowed to China
– again.To add insult to injury, while the Chinese media was admitted to the proceedings, most of the American media was kept out including White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs.(2) The significance and symbolism of the American media and an Administration official being denied access to their own President to accommodate the Chinese Premier cannot be overlooked.
However, it cannot come as much of a surprise either. After all what will be remembered of President Obama's first state visit to China last month other than the sight of The Anointed One bowing before Chinese President Hu Jintao? (3) Somehow I don't think we can expect such a reciprocal gesture from Hu should he visit the White House anytime in the near future.
Obama's visit to China was also noteworthy because he did not make public mention of the human rights much to the disappointment of their dissidents although he is said to have raised such matters in private. Fat lot of good it did. Indeed, Chinese authorities rounded up dissidents and placed them under house arrest during Obama's visit. When George W. Bush and past Presidents visited, Beijing would release dissidents as a goodwill gesture. Ai Weiwei, one of China's most prominent artists and dissidents, told Agence France-Presse:
You come to China and a lot of people are arrested due to your visit
– this is an issue that you cannot ignore. You cannot say that you will talk about this next year or in two years because during this time these people will be sent to jail. (4)Clearly, President Obama's priority during his visit to China was to get an agreement of any kind regarding climate change and so human rights be damned. Of course, Beijing holds little esteem for President Obama. To get an idea of the low regard in which the Chinese Communists hold Obama one must consider his request to address the Chinese people during a live town hall meeting. Chinese authorities saw to it that the meeting was aired only on a local TV station out of Shanghai rather than on a major, national network. (5) Not only does this reflect poorly on China's perception of Obama, it also reflects poorly on China's perception of the United States.
A consequence of this contempt is that a growing number of Americans believe that China's economy is more powerful than the United States. According to a Pew Research survey released earlier this month, 44% of Americans believe China's economy is more powerful than our own. Conversely, only 27% of Americans believe our economy is still number one. But as The Heritage Foundation points out, despite such perceptions, the American economy is more than three times larger than that of China. (6)
Yet there are those such as Pat Buchanan who make the case that China's economy has been in ascendancy while the U.S. economy has been decline for quite some time now. (7) This is in no small part due to the ever growing U.S. trade deficit which accelerated under the Bush Administration. For its part, the Obama Administration has practically begged China to buy up more U.S. Treasury bonds.
While the United States might be more dependent on China with every passing year at least President Bush didn't care what China thought when he would publicly received The Dalai Lama. (8) Say what you will of President Bush. He had the political will to do right by people even when it would offend tyrants. The same cannot be said for President Obama when he snubbed his fellow Nobel Laureate during his visit to Washington in October. (9) Because of impending visit to The People's Republic, President Obama did not want to offend President Hu or Premier Wen. President Obama has done little to inspire the confidence of China's dissidents never mind the confidence of those who value individual liberty and religious freedom the world over.
Although America's military strength hasn't been surpassed as long as President Obama insists on denying American exceptionalism at home and belittling American abroad (Nobel speech or not) then other not so benevolent powers will be more than happy to fill in the breach. China tops the list with Russia closed behind to say nothing of Iran's nuclear ambitions. President Obama has certainly done nothing to discourage the Chinese whether by bowing to President Hu or asking Premier Wen if he is ready to receive him.
(1)
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2009/12/18/a-meaningful-and-unprecedented-breakthrough-here-copenhagen(2)
http://thehil.com/blogs.e2-wire/677-e2-wire/72985-press-corps-gibbs-take-hits-in-us-china-climate-standoff-(3)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mx3IlHuF1KE&feature=player_embedd(4)
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gHHrGSBYMtuFEoXFEAR0y07iucGA(5)
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33958780/ns/politics-white_house/(6)
http://blog.heritage.org/2009/12/08/china-more-powerful-than-the-united-states/(7)
http://townhall.com/columnists/PatBuchanan/2008/11/11/chinas_path_to_world>power(8)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7046445.stm(9)
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405274870447150457444920327844600.html
