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U.S. First lady Michelle Obama will not attend the crucial US-China Californian summit. (Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
(By Peter Foster, Washington and Tom Phillips in Shanghai, Daily Telegraph) – It had been hoped that this weekend’s crucial summit between Barack Obama and newly appointed President Xi Jinping at a Californian ranch might inject a new warmth into US-China relations.
However, those hopes suffered an early setback on Wednesday when the White House announced that Michelle Obama would not be joining her husband in attending the two-day meeting with China’s new president and his wife.
Her office cited domestic responsibilities for not attending – it is the last week of the school year for the Obamas’ daughters Malia, 14, and Sasha, 11, – but the move leaves China’s first lady, Peng Liyuan, to attend the summit without her American counterpart.
China experts immediately warned that Mrs Obama’s decision to stay in Washington could have an unwelcome chilling effect on a summit that White House officials have billed as an “unprecedented” opportunity to heal divisions between the world two biggest economies.
Her absence is likely to limit Ms Peng’s role at the two-day California meeting and may be interpreted by the face-conscious Chinese bureaucrats and public as a deliberate snub, both US and Chinese analysts said.
The Chinese public had hoped that their country’s first lady would dazzle the American public during this summit at the Sunnylands ranch in Palm Springs which opens on Friday and in which both sides have trumpeted as a bid to kick-start more constructive relations.
Zhang Ming, a political scientist from China’s Renmin University, predicted Mrs Obama’s absence would “not go down very well” in Beijing.
“First lady diplomacy is also very important and the US side has failed to cooperate,” he said. “According to normal diplomatic etiquette this is very strange. It shouldn’t be like this.
“Maybe Michelle [Obama] doesn’t like Xi Jinping – or maybe she is just really busy,” Prof Zhang speculated. “But being busy shouldn’t be an excuse for missing an event like this.” Several leading US commentators agreed. “Michelle Obama not attending the summit is a diplomatic own-goal that could easily have been avoided,” wrote Dan Drezner, professor of international politics at Tuft’s University in Boston in Foreign Policy.
“This is one of the few moments during her husband’s term of office where what she does matters a small amount to world politics. She should be in California.” Communist Party bosses had seen the meeting as a golden opportunity to deploy Peng Liyuan’s much-vaunted charms on the world stage in a bid to spin a more favorable image of China’s leaders, after a decade with the stiff, protocol obsessed former president Hu Jintao in charge.
Ms Peng, an elegant and much-loved PLA singer [PLA is the Communist People’s Liberation Army], has taken center-stage during president Xi’s ongoing tour of Latin America and the Caribbean, exchanging hi-fives with children and playing the steel drums in Trinidad and Tobago.
“First lady turns on the charm, impresses hosts,” the Chinese government’s state-run China Daily enthused on Tuesday, noting that the 50-year-old soprano had made an impact “not just with her music, but also her kindness and language capability.” Cheng Li, an expert in Chinese politics from Washington’s Brookings Institution, told the New York Times the Chinese would “readily” accept Mrs Obama’s family commitments but said her decision “certainly needs some explanation.” The Chinese were “extremely sensitive”, Prof Cheng added.
Both governments have invested very heavily in the shirt-sleeves summits which comes as both countries begin a new political cycle.
Relations between the two powers have been strained in recent years over trade disputes, allegations of Chinese cyber espionage and America’s decision to be more assertive in the Asia-Pacific region – a move the Chinese resent.
White House officials have played up the huge strategic importance of the talks which they said were aimed at deepening personal relations between the two leaders and developing a mechanism to avoid the “historic inevitability” of a clash between rising and sitting super powers.
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Questions
PLEASE NOTE: The last daily posting to the website will be June 7th, and resume toward the end of August. “Answers” emails will resume on Sept. 3rd.
1. How are White House officials portraying the two-day meeting between President Obama and newly appointed President Xi Jinping on June 7-8 in California, at Sunnylands, the Walter and Leonore Annenberg Estate? (see para. 4, 6, 15)
2. a) For what reason will Mrs. Obama not attend the summit?
b) How might the Chinese interpret Mrs. Obama’s absence, according to analysts?
3. The summit is on Friday and Saturday. Would it be unreasonable to question whether Mrs. Obama might attend the summit on Saturday, and meet with Mrs. Peng at that time? Explain your answer.
4. What do the Chinese hope to achieve with the summit, and with Mrs. Peng’s attendance at the summit?
5. On May 27 the Washington Post reported that “more than two dozen major weapons systems whose designs were breached [by Chinese government hackers] were programs critical to U.S. missile defenses and combat aircraft and ships.” (see “Background” below for more)
a) Should President Obama have canceled this meeting with newly appointed Chinese government President Xi Jinping in light of this revelation? Explain your answer.
b) As the summit is going to take place, considering the White House’s goal for the meetings, should Mrs. Obama have attended some or all of the summit? (Should diplomatic courtesy have been extended considering the meeting’s purpose?) Explain your answer.
6. How do you view Mrs. Obama’s decision not to attend the President’s meeting with the Chinese President (and his wife)?
7. Diplomatic is defined as: involving the work of maintaining good relations between the governments of different countries. Should the first lady have a diplomatic role when the President is meeting with foreign leaders in the U.S. outside the White House? Explain your answer.
Resources
Chinese government commits cyber espionage against major U.S. companies:
In March, it was reported that the Chinese military has been hacking U.S. networks of some of America’s most important companies. In April, Congress banned the Commerce and Justice departments, NASA and the National Science Foundation from buying hardware ‘produced, manufactured or assembled’ by any entity ‘owned, operated or subsidized’ by the People’s Republic of China. President Obama signed the ban into law. Read about Chinese cyber espionage against the U.S. at: studentnewsdaily.com/daily-news-article/us-takes-first-stand-against-chinese-cyber-espionage
Chinese government hacks U.S. military weapons systems (from a May 27 Washington Post report):
- Designs for many of the U.S. military’s most sensitive advanced weapons systems have been compromised by Chinese hackers, according to a report prepared for the Pentagon and to officials from government and the defense industry.
- Among more than two dozen major weapons systems whose designs were breached were programs critical to U.S. missile defenses and combat aircraft and ships, according to a previously undisclosed section of a confidential report prepared for Pentagon leaders by the Defense Science Board.
- Experts warn that the electronic intrusions gave China access to advanced technology that could accelerate the development of its weapons systems and weaken the U.S. military advantage in a future conflict.
- The Defense Science Board, a senior advisory group made up of government and civilian experts, did not accuse the Chinese of stealing the designs. But senior military and industry officials with knowledge of the breaches said the vast majority were part of a widening Chinese campaign of espionage against U.S. defense contractors and government agencies.
Read an earlier article on newly appointed President Xi Jinping wife Peng Liyuan’s role:
studentnewsdaily.com/daily-news-article/chinas-new-first-lady-the-carla-bruni-of-the-east
Daily “Answers” emails are provided for Daily News Articles, Tuesday’s World Events and Friday’s News Quiz.
