Obama's trip shows power shifting

For China, Hu and other leaders clearly delighted in the show of face Obama gave them. Far from crowing, however, Hu gave Obama a respectful welcome by soldiers in dress uniforms in the Great Hall of the People and in-depth discussions that ran overtime.

At a state banquet Tuesday night, the People's Liberation Army band serenaded Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and much of the Chinese leadership with American songs including “I just Called to Say I Love You,” “We are the World” and “In the Mood.”

The joint statement that Obama and Hu issued was the broadest of its kind in 30 years of formal relations. It contained expressions of cooperation in relations between their two often-mistrustful militaries, on a human rights dialogue, on space exploration and on shoring up Afghanistan and Pakistan — as well as the big topics of climate change, economic recovery and defanging North Korea's and Iran's nuclear programs.

Chinese leaders, however, are wary of Obama's charisma. Though they prevented a nationwide broadcast and censored Web transcripts of a town hall-style meeting he held with Chinese students in Shanghai on Monday, students who attended said they found Obama and his rise to the presidency inspiring. Bloggers cheered his appeal against censorship of the Internet.

“It's wonderful to have the President Obama here,” Lu Hualin, a middle-aged office administrator in Beijing's business district, said Tuesday. “I didn't watch the town hall, but it's pretty obvious that the Chinese really like him for the energy, intellect and charisma he brings to the conversation. I think we'll welcome anyone who has an agenda to better the world and work toward world peace.”

Obama's talk about “shared burdens” among global partners both flatters and troubles a Chinese leadership consumed with guiding a rapidly changing society that is expecting freer expression and rising living standards.

“Obama is more cooperative and respectful. But the secret meaning of this smart diplomacy is to show a smiling face while taking money out of your pocket,” said Jin Canrong, an international affairs expert at Renmin University. “Many partners, including China, are not ready to take on that responsibility.”

Given the conflicting agendas, a danger is that the U.S. and Chinese governments may misinterpret how far each is willing to accommodate the other. Hints of discord were evident beneath the edifice of cooperation in Obama's and Hu's joint appearance Tuesday.

On North Korea and Iran, Obama said negotiations provided a way forward but stressed that should they fail both countries would face consequences. With China's budding energy investments in Iran and worries about instability in neighboring North Korea, Hu merely cited a need for continued talk.

Hu said each country should respect the other's “core interests” — code for Washington to end arms sales for Taiwan and support for the Dalai Lama's Tibetan exiled government. The Xinhua News Agency later quoted Hu as saying Washington should also ban advocates for Muslim ethnic Uighurs in Xinjiang, the western China region where anti-Chinese rioting flared anew this summer.

Said White House press secretary Robert Gibbs later: “I did not expect, and I can speak authoritatively for the president on this, that we thought the waters would part and that everything would change over the course of our almost two-and-a-half-day trip to China.”

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