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Updated Saturday, November 21, 2009 12:27 am TWN, By John J. Metzler, Special to The China Post

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Great Wall blocks Obama in China

Though it's not the role of the American president to lecture the Chinese people on political systems, it is equally incumbent not to hide from the universal issues of human rights and freedoms. Despite being one of the world's oldest and proudest civilizations, this does not grant China's rulers the right to suppress its population.

On economic issues, Obama's team was equally sidetracked on issues of the overvalued Chinese currency, the yuan. Pressures on Beijing to revalue the yuan to a more market-based rate fell on deaf ears, too. As a counterpoint, Hu derided protectionism and new American tariffs on Chinese-produced tires and steel pipes.

Key global security issues, particularly the nuclear proliferation by the Islamic Republic of Iran, did not seem to unduly faze the PRC rulers. Hu Jintao spoke of resolving the Iranian proliferation “though dialogue and negotiations.” This is the same old tune which allows Tehran time to continue its research and development. Given that the PRC is a veto-holding member of the U.N. Security Council, any tough sanctions or political enforcement actions against Tehran are for all practical purposes stillborn without Beijing's support.

In the case of nuclear-armed North Korea, mainland China's neighbor, there's more eagerness to solve the simmering crisis, but not necessarily by Washington's playbook, namely of ratcheting up wider economic sanctions on the Pyongyang regime. Here, too, Beijing's veto on the U.N. Security Council can easily block any meaningful action against North Korea's nuclear ambitions.

Later, in a rigid and stage-managed “news conference” without questions or interaction between Obama and Hu, both presidents looked decidedly uncomfortable. And while a number of agreements of a technical and educational nature were reached, the overtone of the summit was pleasant but the results were unfortunately few.

An obvious question arises: Why can't the U.S. press the PRC on key economic and security issues? The answer may be quite simple. Given that Beijing holds US$800 billion plus of American debt, and the government remains on a hyper-spending spree, is it wise for Washington to engage in political polemics with its largest creditor?

John J. Metzler is a United Nations correspondent covering diplomatic and defense issues. Contact jjmcolumn@att.net.

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