With a 21-gun salute and an array of military honor guards, President Bush welcomed President Hu Jintao of China to the White House for an hourlong meeting and a ceremonial lunch, but they had little tangible to show for a meeting marred by protest on the South Lawn.
The chief executives of the world’s greatest economic power and the world’s fastest-growing economy had much to discuss in private–the undervaluing of the Chinese currency that intensifies a trade imbalance between the two nations, the buildup of the Chinese military, denial of human rights in China and a mutual concern about the nuclear ambitions of North Korea and Iran.
The fact that the two leaders had scant progress to cite after their meeting is emblematic of the strain that permeates U.S.-Chinese relations, and it is likely to spur new interest among members of Congress already pursuing trade sanctions against China, according to American experts on U.S.-Chinese relations.
The White House had signaled before Thursday’s meeting that no significant agreements would emerge. And the pomp that the Chinese president had sought as part of a grand White House reception was undermined by a Chinese-American protester shouting an objection to religious persecution in China from a news camera platform.
Among the biggest irritants between the two nations is a U.S. trade deficit with China that has exceeded $200 billion. Central to that deficit is China’s insistence on pegging its currency to the American dollar, which allows the yuan to trade 20 percent to 40 percent below its actual value.
Allowing the yuan to float, experts say, could help alleviate a trade deficit in which U.S. imports from China are six times greater than U.S. exports there.
“The issue that overrides, and in a sense frames, the whole economic relationship is the trade imbalance,” said C. Fred Bergsten, director of the Institute for International Economics. “The failure of China to permit its currency to move, as most other countries in the world are doing, leads to a major protectionist trade reaction here in the United States.”
Bergsten, co-author of “China: The Balance Sheet,” added, “Congress is saying, `Well, if they continue to insist on an unfair trade competitive advantage by blocking rise in the value of the currency, the only thing we can do, more in sorrow than in anger, is to hit them with trade restrictions.”‘
The one point Bush and Hu agreed on publicly was the importance of improving the relationship between the U.S. and China, a nation of 1.3 billion whose economy is growing 10 percent a year.
“The United States and China are two nations divided by a vast ocean, yet connected through a global economy that has created opportunity for both our peoples,” Bush said in his welcoming remarks.
Behind the scenes, according to one senior administration official, Bush pressed Hu on “the issue of inflexibility” in China’s insistence on controlling the relative value of its currency.
Recognizing that Hu arrived at the White House with no intent of yielding on that question, however, the administration sought to avert a more public airing of the dispute.
When the leaders of major nations come calling, Bush typically holds a “press availability” in the East Room, offering reporters from each nation a chance to ask two questions of each leader.
Instead, Bush and Hu on Thursday limited questions to a few “pool” reporters in the Oval Office.
`Don’t agree on everything’
“We don’t agree on everything,” Bush said. “But we’re able to discuss our disagreements in a spirit of friendship and cooperation.”
Hu, citing broad agreement on “common strategic interests,” said, “As for the differences or even frictions between the two countries . . . we both believe that they may be properly resolved through consultations on an equal footing.”
Asked why he has been unable to persuade China to quickly revalue its currency, Bush offered an uncharacteristically terse comment.
“There has been some appreciation in the currency,” he said. “We would hope there would be more appreciation in the currency.”
The decision to bypass a more public setting for questions was by “mutual agreement,” one senior administration official said, because the Chinese are “not as comfortable with press events as we are.”
Both leaders had a moment of discomfort when a woman given credentials by a newspaper affiliated with Falun Gong, a religious group banned in China, called out her protest from the news camera platform.
“President Bush, stop him from killing!” shouted the woman, identified by her newspaper as Wang Wenyi, a pathologist and Falun Gong practitioner from New York.
“You’re OK,” Bush told Hu, encouraging him to continue his remarks as the woman yelled.
Hu did so, saying, “The Chinese people have always cherished goodwill toward the American people.”
Secret Service agents removed Wang from the White House grounds, and she was charged with disorderly conduct, a spokesman said. National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley said Bush later apologized to Hu for the incident.
For the Chinese, the symbolism of the meeting was paramount, said Derek Mitchell, an Asian specialist at the Center for Strategic and International Studies who served in the Pentagon under President Bill Clinton.
For the U.S., “symbolism matters” but “what we care about is results,” Mitchell said.
As a result, he suggested, “there is a lot of frustration. . . . There is not a sense that China is giving on anything.”
The currency question is not the only unresolved conflict.
Big concern: Patent theft
Rep. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), co-chairman of the House’s bipartisan U.S.-China Working Group, joined a few lawmakers meeting with Hu on Thursday. Kirk said the House members focused on protection of intellectual property rights. Theft of patent and copyrights in China is a major concern for U.S. businesses.
“I did not meet very many U.S. exporters in China that put the currency issue at top,” said Kirk, who traveled to China in January. “In fact, I didn’t meet any. Nearly all of them put the [intellectual property rights] at top.”
In his Oval Office appearance with Bush, Hu acknowledged property rights as an issue.
Mike Green, who served as director of Asian affairs on Bush’s National Security Council, said the administration had worked hard to assure the Chinese that the U.S. was not attempting to stymie China’s growth and indeed “would like to see China grow and be prosperous.”
On his way to Washington, Hu stopped in Seattle as a reminder of China’s multibillion-dollar deal to purchase dozens of Boeing airliners manufactured there. China cites that as evidence of its interest in easing the trade gap with the United States.
“The U.S. would like to take U.S.-China relations to the next level,” Green said.
“The challenge . . . is to show the American public that there’s some result, that there’s some productive output from this increasingly candid and strategic discussion between the two leaders.”
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Blackouts and a gaffe
Tidbits from Hu Jintao’s visit to Washington, his first as president of China:
— As a heckler shouted at Hu about persecution of the Falun Gong religious movement, Chinese authorities blacked out television feeds of the White House event to their country. CNN International said its signal to China was interrupted twice: during the heckling and later when the network briefly reported on the incident. Signals into China from the BBC and Phoenix Satellite Television also were interrupted, CNN said.
— The meeting between Hu and President Bush began with a gaffe when an announcer referred to China by the formal name of Taiwan, which China considers a renegade province. “Ladies and gentlemen, the national anthem of the Republic of China, followed by the national anthem of the United States of America,” the announcer said as Bush and Hu stood at attention outside the White House. China is known formally as the People’s Republic of China.
— Among the guests at the White House luncheon in honor of Hu and his wife were Chicago Mayor Richard Daley and the mayor’s wife, Maggie.
–Associated Press
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mdsilva@tribune.com
