Not to be outshined Hillary Wok's the Wok

Hillary vs. Hu: U.S. Climbs in the Ring With China

The uncomfortable reality that the Chinese are sitting on nearly $1.6 trillion in U.S. securities has -- up until very recently -- made the Obama Administration somewhat lily-livered about going head to head with our biggest financier on anything too touchy, such as nuclear-weapons proliferation, human rights and freedom of speech. Until now.

In the last two weeks, Secretary of State Clinton has rebuked the Chinese in a very public (and unprecedented) fashion: On Jan. 21, the dressing down came in the wake of Chinese censorship policies and presumed cyber attacks on Google. "We look to Chinese authorities to conduct a thorough investigation," Clinton said. "We also look for that investigation and its results to be transparent." Further, she added that any country that restricted free access to information risked "walling themselves off from the progress of the next century." You could practically hear Beijing grinding its teeth in indignation.

In a speech last Friday, Clinton warned, "China will be under a lot of pressure to recognize the destabilizing effect that a nuclear-armed Iran would have" in the Persian Gulf, "from which they receive a significant percentage of their oil supply." This in rebuke to the Chinese refusal to sign a U.N. resolution imposing far-reaching financial and economic sanctions on Iran's top brass.

The kicker came this weekend, as the United States announced it would go ahead and sell $6 billion worth of weaponry to Taiwan – a continuation of Bush-era policy announced at the end of W's term in 2008 and a real middle finger to the country's "One China" policy.
The Chinese reaction was far from muted: China has suspended "planned mutual military visits" and put sanctions on the U.S. companies supplying the equipment to Taiwan. The Chinese foreign minister added that China was "strongly indignant" and that this latest move would have "serious negative impact" on U.S.-China relations.

The icing on the cake? This spring Obama is to meet with the Dalai Lama, long the scourge of Beijing. (Today, a Chinese official said the government would "take necessary measures to help [the U.S.] realize" the harm such a meeting would cause.)
To all of this I say, Bring it on. Obama knows well America's debt to the Chinese, but I'd paraphrase the very words he spoke to the congressional Democrats last week during his State of the Union address – namely, I would remind him that we are still the United States of America, and people expect us to solve problems, not run for the hills.

Letting the Chinese dictate the terms of engagement has proven itself a humiliating and largely fruitless endeavor. Pretending that democracy, free speech and global security are not fundamental American concerns has felt – at least for this American – a lot like a disavowal of the tenets upon which this country was founded.

Yes, the United States is in a precarious position -- in many ways, our dependence on China is the debt we must pay for a decade of unchecked greed and fast, loose (fiscal) behavior. All the more reason that we should speak with clarity and move forcefully in the face of injustice -- not deal from the bottom of the deck in the vain hopes of currying favor with our lender. If an ascendant China means a challenge to the United States as the world's only superpower, then it's high time we we started acting like one.

www.politicsdaily.com...



Mod Edit: External Source Tags Instructions – Please Review This Link.

[edit on 2/3/2010 by AshleyD]

"We look to Chinese authorities to conduct a thorough investigation," Clinton said. "We also look for that investigation and its results to be transparent." said Hillary.

Will it be similar to the transparency we have been enjoying here in the US as well? I find it hard to demand from others what our representative government will not provide in full of themselves.

In a speech last Friday, Clinton warned, "China will be under a lot of pressure to recognize the destabilizing effect that a nuclear-armed Iran would have" in the Persian Gulf, "from which they receive a significant percentage of their oil supply."

Speaking as if the "deal is done" and requesting recognition of a yet unconfirmed status leads one to believe that ,( hhhmmmm scratches head
and adjusts tinfoil derby) IS in fact "the deal done? Is Iran Nuclear Armed?
What's up with that statement Hillary?

Makes you think Hell is pretty peaceful if all its bosses are up here playing politics.

The State department is sensitive to Google pulling out of China. Because Google is tied to and indispensable to US intelligence agencies, Google pulling out of China would destroy a hugely valuable strategic intelligence asset.