Washington Extra – Braving the weather
President Barack Obama quipped that Chinese President Hu Jintao was brave for going to his hometown at this time of year. But what about the visit to Capitol Hill today?
Between the warm reception at the White House and the chilly weather in Chicago, Hu met lawmakers who were quite cool in their welcome. They brought up China’s currency, human rights, the Chinese Nobel Peace Prize winner who wasn’t allowed to attend the ceremony, Tibet, the economy and trade.
“The U.S. and China do not share values and principles as some have claimed in recent days,” House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen said.
Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry summed up the uneasiness that still accompanies the U.S.-China relationship: “It’s critical that leaders in both countries don’t allow mutual suspicions to degenerate into fear-mongering and demagoguery.”
Vice President Joe Biden, caught in the hallway by our senior congressional correspondent Tom Ferraro, told Reuters the Chinese understood they needed to work on the currency dispute. “They indicate that they understand that — that they have to work on it,” he said.
When asked whether Hu had made any commitments, Biden replied: “Nothing specific.”
Here are our top stories from Washington today…
Panda diplomacy: the remix
The latest chapter in the long story of panda diplomacy was written at Washington’s National Zoo, where the Chinese government agreed to lengthen the “loan” of popular panda pair Mei Xiang and Tian Tian for another five years. Actually, the loan is conditioned on whether they produce a new heir or heiress to the cuteness of panda-dom in the next two years; one or both could be exchanged for more fecund substitutes.
They have a good track record: Washington native Tai Shan, born in 2005, headed back to China last year.
This was a big enough deal for President Barack Obama to mention it at an elaborate state dinner at the White House for Chinese President Hu Jintao.
“Today, we’ve shown that our governments can work together, as well, for our mutual benefit,” Obama told the glittering gathering. “And that includes this bit of news: Under a new agreement, our National Zoo will continue to dazzle children and visitors with the beloved giant pandas.”
In the United States, panda diplomacy started soon after President Richard Nixon’s 1972 trip to China. But the idea that China might be able to export, or at least loan, this cuddly symbol to further diplomatic ends may date back to the Tang Dynasty, when 7th century Chinese Empress Wu Zetian sent a pair of pandas to Japan.
For some reason, Washington has gone disproportionately gaga over pandas. In 2004, the PandaMania exhibition put fancifully painted panda sculptures around town; there’s still one near the hotel where the Chinese government set up its press operations for President Hu Jintao’s visit. Asked why people in the United States are so smitten, Chinese conservation official Zhang Shanming told reporters it just might be that, when pandas sit on their hind quarters, eating, they look like human babies.
To be honest, Tian Tian and Mei Xiang didn’t look so much like babies in that distinctive pose; they looked more like furry beanbags as the big deal was unveiled. But pandas are pandas and Washingtonians are likely to continue the love affair with them.
Partisan politics at the state dinner party
Reuters’ Wendell Marsh was there as the guests arrived for President Obama’s state dinner honoring Chinese President Hu Jintao.
The evening might have been filled with glamour, but it did take place in Washington, so it was naturally marked by a few comments on partisan politics.
Democratic U.S. Senator John Kerry told members of the media that it was time to tone down recent heated political rhetoric. “You can’t come here with a scorched earth policy and expect to do the nation’s business and serve our greater interest.”
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, a Republican, waxed diplomatic. “It’s a great night for our country,” he said as he walked in.” We are Americans and we are honored to be here.”
But he was aware that he was one of only a few Republicans to accept the invitation from the Democratic White House.
“It just makes me unique once again,” he told reporters.
Some Republican notables were most notable for their absence.
Hu’s state dinner menu as American as apple pie – corrected
The White House usually pays tribute to its state dinner guests by planning menus that pay homage to the visitors’ country. But the Chinese delegation wanted an American experience — which they are getting in spades on Monday Wednesday night.
The state dinner menu features Maine lobster, steak and potatoes and apple pie with vanilla ice cream, accompanied by an array of U.S. wines. And the entertainment is “An Evening of Jazz,” the uniquely American musical form.
Here is the menu:
- D’Anjou Pear salad with Farmstead Goat Cheese, fennel, black walnuts and white balsamic vinegar
- Poached Maine lobster with orange glaze carrots and black trumpet mushrooms, served with a Dumol Chardonnay “Russian River” 2008
- Lemon Sorbet
- Dry-aged rib eye with buttermilk crisp onions, double-stuffed potatoes and creamed spinach, accompanied by Quilceda Creek Cabernet “Columbia Valley” 2005
- Old-fashioned apple pie with vanilla ice cream, served with Poet’s Leap Riesling “Botrytis” 2008
The two previous state dinners hosted by the White House have taken place in tents erected on the building’s lawn, but Wednesday night’s was held entirely inside, with tables erected in the Blue Room, Red Room and State Dining Room for dinner, and the evening’s enertainment in the East Room.
The design theme also reflected the “Quintessentially American” theme. The dinner linens featured pheasants on patterned backgrounds in jewel tones, reminiscent of the work of the American naturalist artist John James Audobon. But the design was also a bow to China — the pheasant, the White House pointed out, is a native bird of China, revered for its beauty and seen as a symbol of nobility.
One Washington day is not like another for Mr. Hu
China’s President Hu Jintao was feted with full fanfare at the White House on Wednesday, with a 21-gun salute, honor guards and a state dinner. Things might not be quite so fancy on Thursday when he goes to Capitol Hill.
There he will see Republican Speaker John Boehner in the House of Representatives, then cross the Capitol to meet Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. Neither bothered to attend Wednesday’s state dinner.
Also attending the House and Senate meetings will be several other lawmakers who want a word with Hu about human rights in China, as well as China’s dealings with Iran and Chinese trade practices.
Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen plans to hand Hu an entire list of complaints in the form of a letter she sent to Obama ahead of the Chinese leader’s visit.
The letter from the Republican complains of Beijing’s “military posturing,” as well as reports that China allowed the trans-shipment of North Korean missile parts to Iran via Beijing aiport. It also calls for the closure of labor camps in China, the release of political prisoners, and “unrestricted religious freedom”.
Also attending the House meeting with Hu will be the former Speaker, now Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi. The Chinese media once called her a “defender of arsonists, looters and killers” after she visited the Dalai Lama and criticized Chinese “oppression” in Tibet.
Another lawmaker Hu will see is Democrat Sander Levin, one of Congress’s many critics of China’s trade practices. When he was chairman of the Ways and Means Committee last year, he pushed a bill through the House that threatened trade sanctions on China in retaliation for Beijing’s currency manipulation.
Washington Extra – Modern pursuits
Former Vice President Dick Cheney says he’s using modern technology like a BlackBerry and Kindle, when he didn’t even have a cellphone at the White House.
“I’m not totally modern. I still write long-hand and don’t use a computer for that kind of thing,” Cheney said in an NBC interview. “My grandchildren still laugh at me,” he said, and his 3-year-old grandson showed him how to play the Angry Birds game on an iPad.
Lawmakers on Capitol Hill, while sticking to their well-trod positions on healthcare, did refrain from aiming big slingshots at opponents. (Angry Birds fans, that’s for you).
Chinese President Hu Jintao arrived to a red carpet welcome at Andrews Air Force Base where Vice President Joe Biden greeted him. Full pomp and circumstance will be on display tomorrow at the White House, symbolizing the importance that the United States places on ties with China.
But there will be plenty of squawking in the background over China’s currency and human rights.
Here are our top stories from Washington today…
Deals, currency spat accompany China’s Hu to U.S.
Guess who’s not coming to dinner with Hu
Usually politicians flock to a high-profile event like moths to a flame.
But we’re learning that isn’t quite the style of the new Speaker of the House.
The White House is rolling out the red carpet for China’s President Hu Jintao with one of the most formal of all events — the State Dinner.
This will be only the third hosted by President Barack Obama during the two years of his presidency — the previous ones were for the leaders of India and Mexico.
But one person who will be a no-show for the dinner in honor of the leader of the Asian economic powerhouse is Republican House Speaker John Boehner.
An aide tells our congressional correspondent Susan Cornwell that Boehner has declined an invitation to the State Dinner with the Chinese leader, but that the Speaker would see Hu on Thursday at a meeting on Capitol Hill. The aide said Boehner rarely attends state dinners.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said he didn’t know why Boehner declined the invite.
American companies are demanding a chance to win contracts in China without offering any partnership agreements. But investors in the Chinese economy are now being forced to share their expertise with the Chinese people. Unless these rules are eliminated the two nations cannot be at peace.
Obama, Hu share moment of silence for dead miners
U.S. President Barack Obama and his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao interrupted their high-powered diplomacy on Monday to share a moment of silence in memory of the miners who have died in recent accidents in both countries.
Obama paused during vital talks ranging from sanctions against Iran to China’s yuan currency on the sidelines of a nuclear security summit to tell Hu about the 29 miners lost in a mine blast in West Virginia last week.
Recalling 85 miners had also died in China’s Shanxi province in the last 10 days, Obama asked both delegations to take a moment to honor the dead, the White House said.
The United States, whose own coal mining industry a century ago was plagued with the frequency of disasters China still experiences, has for the past decade conducted a mine safety program with China. The program includes a model mine in Shanxi province and brings Chinese safety officials and engineers to West Virginia for training.
For more Reuters political news, click here.
Photo credit: Reuters/Jason Reed (Obama greets China’s Hu Jintao)
How to ease traffic tie-ups in Washington: hold a nuclear security summit
There’s nuclear security, and then there’s street security.
High-level delegations from nearly 50 countries gathered in Washington to talk, talk, talk, and talk some more about keeping the world safe from nuclear terrorism at the Nuclear Security Summit hosted by President Barack Obama.
That in turn required Washington to cope with ensuring the safety of the world leaders gathered to mull world security.
Ripple effect: Plenty of local scare talk about street closings, traffic tie-ups and nightmare commutes that kept many people off downtown streets on Monday, the first day of the two-day summit.
Side effect: an easier commute, lighter traffic, no typical morning gridlock. (Hey maybe there’s an answer to Washington’s nightmare rush hour traffic jams).
A massive security cordon surrounded the summit site with camouflage-wearing National Guard troops and a heavy U.S. security presence.
Barricades sprung up around the Convention Center and along sidewalks near potential motorcade routes, 10-foot wire fences were erected, the closest Metro train stop was closed, buses were rerouted, and parking was forbidden on surrounding streets.
