U.S. Criticism Muted on Democracy, Human Rights
In the privacy of the Yellow Oval Room in the White House residence overlooking the Washington Monument one day last week, President Bush hosted one of China's archenemies. The Dalai Lama gave him a white scarf called a khata as a token of respect. Bush served tea and sipped from a glass of water. They talked about the continuing plight of Tibet. But the visit was not put on the president's advance public schedule. No journalists were invited in to record the moment, as at the end of many Bush meetings. The president made no public comments about Tibet. The White House released an official photograph but did not post it on the home page of its Web site along with the other events of his day.
The delicate diplomatic dance illustrated Bush's complex relationship with China as he leaves tomorrow on his first trip to Asia since reelection. Meeting with the spiritual leader of the repressed Tibetan people just before heading to Beijing was intended to send a signal about Bush's commitment to human rights in the world's most populous country. Yet the effort to keep the session essentially out of public view was intended to avoid insulting to his soon-to-be hosts.
Perhaps no country presents a greater challenge to the vision Bush outlined in his second inaugural address than China. As he took the oath last January, Bush made it the mission of his presidency to promote freedom and democracy around the world, vowing to confront "every ruler and every nation" and predicate U.S. relations with other governments on how they treat their own people.
Yet when it comes to China, home of 1.3 billion people living under communist rule, Bush and his administration seem more animated by economic and security issues. In public at least, the Bush team's discussion of democracy and human rights in China often is muted in soft tones and quickly dispensed with to move on to other matters.
"It's definitely become one of the pillars of what the president is willing to do when it comes to China," said John Ackerly, president of the International Campaign for Tibet, who credits Bush for pushing human rights.
"But the question is always: How much is the administration really invested in it? How hard do they really push? Raising it with the Chinese leadership is one thing. Really pushing it is another. And the Chinese leadership has been getting some mixed messages." Bush is to talk about the importance of freedom during a speech not in China but at the first stop of his week-long trip, in Kyoto, Japan. After Kyoto, Bush flies to Pusan, South Korea, for the annual summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, or APEC. He visits China after that to sit down with President Hu Jintao, and then stops in Mongolia.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/12/AR2005111201209.html
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