President Bush and Chinese President Hu Jintao shake hands at the conclusion of a press availability in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Thursday, April 20, 2006. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Posted on 04/20/2006 9:38:34 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON - President Bush and Chinese President Hu Jintao failed Thursday to break new ground toward resolving differences over trade and nuclear standoffs with Iran and North Korea during a meeting marred by a protest.
No breakthroughs had been expected at the meeting — Hu's first visit to the White House, and both he and Bush acknowledged at a picture-taking session that much work remained to be done and that the two sides would strive for progress in these areas.
A welcoming ceremony on the South Lawn for Hu's first visit as Chinese leader was briefly marred by the screams of a woman critical of the Chinese president. And hundreds of demonstrators massed outside to protest Beijing's human-rights policies.
Bush, sitting in the Oval Office with Hu before the two were to attend a formal luncheon, praised China for previous progress in what is perhaps the major irritant in the relationship — Beijing's tightly controlled currency.
The United States views the Chinese yuan as undervalued, and Bush said, "We would hope there would be more appreciation."
On Iran, China has resisted the approach favored by the United States and Europe — pursuing sanctions if Tehran does not comply with demands that it halt uranium enrichment, and there appeared to be no movement on that issue.
Bush said only that the two sides agree on the goal of preventing Iran from developing nuclear weapons or the having the capability to produce them and are in a position to "work on tactics" to achieve it.
"We don't agree on everything but we are able to discuss our disagreements in friendship and cooperation," he told reporters.
Hu, aware of the growing U.S. impatience with America's record $202 billion trade deficit with China, offered general promises to address the yawning gap, but his comments were likely to do little to cool calls in Congress for punitive tariffs on Chinese products.
"We have taken measures and will continue to take steps to resolve the issue," he said.
Bush put a good face on the meeting.
"He recognizes that a trade deficit with the United States is substantial and it is unsustainable," the president said of Hu. "Obviously the Chinese government takes the currency issue seriously, and so do I."
Bush also had been hoping to get Beijing to take on more than a mediator's role in efforts to bring North Korea back to six-nation talks aimed at halting its nuclear weapons programs. Asked what more his country could do to resolve that dispute, Hu asserted that China "has always been making constructive efforts to de-nuclearize the Korean peninsula."
The two presidents had not been expected to take questions from media, in deference to Chinese wishes. But an agreement to take questions from two reporters from each country came at the last minute and produced more than a half-hour of back-and-forth as the leaders sat side-by-side in front of a fireplace.
Afterward, the leaders went into meetings with a larger group of aides and officials. Then, Bush was hosting a formal lunch for China's first family, with music supplied by a Nashville bluegrass band.
The half-day summit got under way with pomp and pageantry on the South Lawn as demonstrators massed outside to protest Beijing's human-rights policies.
Both stood, side by side, under bright sunshine on the South Lawn of the White House as the national anthems of both countries were played by a military band.
Bush and Hu then engaged in a ceremonial review of U.S. troops, some dressed in Continental Army uniforms.
A woman on the camera stand interrupted the welcoming ceremony, shouting in heavily accented English and Chinese, "President Bush, stop him from persecuting the Falun Gong!" and "President Bush: Stop him from killing." She was forcibly removed from the South Lawn by uniformed Secret Service personnel.
Hu arrived in Washington Wednesday night for the first time as China's leader, after two days spent wooing American business leaders in Washington state.
In formal remarks on the South Lawn, Bush spoke more forcefully on the currency issue, saying he would continue to press for China to move "toward a flexible market exchange."
Bush raised other issues with Hu, including complaints about China's human rights record and questions over China's growing military strength and whether it poses a threat to Taiwan.
During his address, Hu pledged China's help in working diplomatically to ease the nuclear tensions with North Korea and Iran. And he vowed in general terms to work to promote human rights. "We should respect each other as equals and promote closer exchanges and cooperation," he said, speaking through a translator.
Hu said that closer U.S.-Chinese cooperation would "bring more benefits to our two people and to the people of the world."
The visit attracted high-profile attention both inside and outside the White House gates. The spiritual movement Falun Gong, condemned by the Chinese government as an evil cult, gathered hundreds of demonstrators on street corners near the White House in the early morning. Marchers banged gongs, chanted and waved American and Chinese flags. Banners denounced Hu as a "Chinese dictator" responsible for genocide and other "crimes in Chinese labor camps and prisons."
The Chinese government had its say as well. In a median in front of the Chinese embassy, the Falun Gong protesters that are nearly always there had been replaced by Chinese supporters holding huge red-and-yellow banners offering to "warmly welcome" Hu on his American visit.
There were some obvious signs that the summit was not considered on the U.S. side as a "state visit." Though the Chinese flag flew over Blair House, the official guest quarters for visiting dignitaries across the street from the White House, lamp posts surrounding the compound were bare of the usual pairing of flags from the United States and its guest country.
The two sides disputed what to call the visit, with the Chinese insisting that it is a "state visit," which was the designation former President Jiang Zemin received in 1997, or an "official visit," the designation the Bush administration is using for Hu's trip.
Hu has carried on a tradition started by Deng Xiaoping on his first visit to the United States in 1979 — courting American business executives in recognition of the fact that the United States is China's biggest overseas market.
Hu had dinner at the home of Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill Gates on Tuesday and on Wednesday he received a warm welcome from employees at Boeing Co.'s massive Everett, Wash., facilities.
Last week, a contingent of more than 200 Chinese trade officials and business executives toured the United States, signing sales contracts for $16.2 billion in American goods, including 80 Boeing jetliners, all in an effort to show that China is trying to bring down the massive trade gap between the two nations.
Some small progress may be made in the area of energy, where China's rapidly growing economy has increased global demand for crude oil, pushing prices higher, and sent China rushing to lock up sources of supply in such questionable areas as Sudan, Burma and Iran.
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On the Net:
U.S. Trade Representative: http://www.ustr.gov
CIA's World Factbook site on China: http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ch.html
President Bush and Chinese President Hu Jintao shake hands at the conclusion of a press availability in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Thursday, April 20, 2006. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
yeah, but Hu got an ear full on the whitehouse lawn.
www.drudgereport.com
A woman protester screams at U.S. President George W. Bush and Chinese President Hu Jintao while a Chinese TV cameraman tries to cover her mouth during a welcoming State Arrival Ceremony on the South Lawn in Washington, April 20, 2006. REUTERS/Larry Downing
Time to slap the 27.5% tarrif on all their goods then.
President Bush and Chinese President Hu Jintao stand side by side during an arrival ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington Thursday, April 20, 2006. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
A protester is arrested after shouting and waving a banner during the welcoming ceremony for Chinese President Hu Jintao on the South Lawn of the White House April 20, 2006. U.S. President George W. Bush and Hu will discuss trade, currency, Iran and Taiwan during their meeting today, but analysts say the White House meeting is unlikely to yield any significant agreements. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
I don't see why China should want to make any "progress" on trade. Any change to the status quo will be to our benefit and to their detriment.
Love that Reuters caption.
Yeah, she was really screaming at Bush.
US President George W. Bush(R) and Chinese President Hu Jintao attend a welcoming ceremony at the White House in Washington, DC. Hu pledged to "advance the reform" of exchange rates and improve cooperation on trade and investment with the United States.(AFP/Jim Watson)
Who knows?
The MSM is having a field day. I don't imagine that they'll ever let the news out that she was protesting the deaths of innocent Chinese because they practice religion....
The left does so love murderous Communist dictators......
"Won-wy, I'm so won-wy and ve-wy awone. Sil-ly? No not weawwy."
Marred? That was the highlight.
He didn't come to see Bush anyway...He was here rubbing feet with Bill Gates...I suspect protocol demands he make a stop by the White House...
I was not aware the occasion would be used for improv comedy.
"He recognizes that a trade deficit with the United States is substantial and it is unsustainable," the president said of Hu. "Obviously the Chinese government takes the currency issue seriously, and so do I."
Not seriously enough, if you ask me.
AP had most of this article written before HU got on his airplane to leave Red China. More Bush bash.
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