LIKE MANY of his predecessors, Barack Obama visited the Great Wall on the last day of his visit to China, crowning a trip that revealed little chemistry between him and the Chinese leadership but underlined the increasingly close links between the two countries.
“It is my sincere hope that your current visit will lift the comprehensive and co-operative China-US relations to a new level,” premier Wen Jiabao told Mr Obama at their meeting in the state guesthouse in Beijing, on the last day of the US leader’s visit.
Mr Obama also met briefly yesterday with his half-brother, Mark Okoth Obama Ndesandjo, who lives in Shenzhen in southern China. His brother recently penned a novel in which he describes their father’s problems.
In his talks with Mr Wen, the US leader made his point about human rights and Tibet and freedom of speech and other areas where China and the United States have agreed to disagree.
But the fact that China is the US’s biggest creditor means Mr Obama was always at a disadvantage when it came to pressing home these issues, and instead he was pushed to use leverage on issues such as trade and China’s currency. Mr Obama is trying to remind China, which is fast emerging as a global superpower, with money to spend, that America is still in charge, but the parlous state of the US public finances makes things awkward.
There was little indication about what really went on at the meetings with President Hu Jintao earlier this week and with Mr Wen yesterday, because the subsequent remarks were fairly opaque and monotonous and focused on China’s chief bugbear in its relations with Washington – what it sees as growing protectionism.
“Mutual trust will help us move forward, while misgivings will take us back,” said Mr Wen.
“China does not pursue a trade surplus,” Mr Wen said, adding that the aim was to balance bilateral trade, because “lively global trade and investment will help to overcome the international financial crisis and accelerate global economic recovery.”
Mr Wen then added a comment which reflects China’s anger at what it sees as barriers against trade by the US, when he urged the two nations to “together oppose trade and investment protectionism”. Not a word here about Washington’s chief irritation – what it sees as the undervalued yuan. Many foreign governments say the yuan is too low in value, putting competitors at a disadvantage and distorting global economic flows.
“Undoubtedly, China and the United States still, and will always, have disagreements, especially in the fields of trade, currencies, greenhouse gas emissions, and political and military trust,” said the People’s Daily in an opinion piece. “But disagreements provide room for talks, improved communications and enhanced co-operation. Both the United States and China have showed their seriousness in resolving those disagreements,” it said.
Despite these tensions and uneasy shows of affection, the US-China joint communique issued this week makes for interesting reading. It is a remarkably comprehensive document with juicy details about the talks.
One example of how co-operation will work is the Shanghai Expo next year – the US participation was stalled because of the global financial crisis, and for a while it looked like China was going to have to fund the building of a face-saving American pavilion at the show. This would have been highly embarrassing for the overall event. The communique was reassuring, however, saying the US “reaffirmed its support for Expo 2010 Shanghai”. Next stop for Mr Obama is Korea.