Bush and Hu Toast Political Oppression
Bush and Hu Toast Political Oppression
President Bush, 11/20/05:
It is important that social, political and religious freedoms grow in China. And we encourage China to continue making the historic transition to greater freedom.
But Bush proved today that he isn’t serious about pushing China on human rights, and China isn’t serious about reforming. Instead of calling for greater freedoms, Bush acquiesced to a Chinese demand to allow no unscripted questions at the press briefing, despite standard protocol.
At today’s briefing, the White House allowed only one scripted softball question about human rights, in effect allowing Hu to avoid facing any of the embarrassing facts about China’s abysmal human rights record. Hu’s answer was rather ironic:
QUESTION: President Hu, when will China become a democracy with free elections?
PRESIDENT HU: I don’t know — what do you mean by a democracy? … China has…been actively, properly, and appropriately moved forward the political restructuring process, and we have always been expanding the democracy and freedoms for the Chinese citizens.
The reality is that oppression in China continues to thrive. From 2002-2005, China has received Freedom House’s lowest score on political rights, even as it grows “increasingly adept at using the tools of technology to repress free expression and dissent.”
UPDATE: It does not appear that the questions yesterday were scripted. Instead, the White House limited the session to a few “pool” reporters, under a “mutual agreement” with the Chinese, who did not want a more public setting.
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Bush was only meeting with Hu to get pointers.
April 20th, 2006 at 4:09 pmI just wish they were both drinking
April 20th, 2006 at 4:09 pmJim Jones Kool-Aid in the picture.
Since the article is also relevant to this tread, I will post it here too:
Slowly but surely, the grand strategy of the Bush administration is being revealed. It is not aimed primarily at the defeat of global terrorism, the incapacitation of rogue states, or the spread of democracy in the Middle East. These may dominate the rhetorical arena and be the focus of immediate concern, but they do not govern key decisions regarding the allocation of long-term military resources. The truly commanding objective – the underlying basis for budgets and troop deployments – is the containment of China.
April 20th, 2006 at 4:10 pmThis objective governed White House planning during the administration’s first seven months in office, only to be set aside by the perceived obligation to highlight anti-terrorism after September 11, 2001; but now, despite President George W Bush’s preoccupation with Iraq and Iran, the White House is also reemphasizing its paramount focus on China, risking a new Asian arms race with potentially catastrophic consequences.
Containing China: The US’s real objective
It’s quite amazing how everything is managed so powerful people can avoid the real issues.
April 20th, 2006 at 4:15 pmI wonder if Bush “looked into Hu’s soul”.
I am not sure how we would contain China without shooting ourselves in the foot. they own a lot of US debt, and are on of our largest trading partners.
April 20th, 2006 at 4:16 pmGrape juice, yum! Comfort food!
April 20th, 2006 at 4:17 pmThe old expression of, “He who has the gold, writes the rules” seems to be more and more the case with China. Given their booming economy, our huge trade deficit, their devalued currency…we may have to acquiesce even further. But hey…the administration says our economy is doing great…hmmm.
more observations here:
http://www.thoughttheater.com
April 20th, 2006 at 4:22 pmTruly folks, the hole has been dug for the American Middle Class and they are busy thinking up a good epitaph for the stone. Hint – It will be in Chinese. I can’t even ask how long the lawmakers will continue to pass legislation that helps destroy the Middle Class. It’s rhetorical. I love a good bitchin’ session as much as the next, but both Parties seem to be serving the same Master and it isn’t the People. So if we throw them all out of Office in November, aren’t We just electing the ‘people’ back?
Washington – long on rhetoric with China – short on action.
China – Happy to take Our Money and cripple us financially. They have a plan that’s updated every five years.
We have no long term plan. Period.
April 20th, 2006 at 4:56 pmThe Worst President in History?
April 20th, 2006 at 4:56 pmOne of America’s leading historians assesses George W. Bush
Didn’t Monkey Boy tell us that he found God or some such bullshit one night on a beach with Rev. Billy Grunt in 1986 and that he had stopped drinking?? This picture suggests that he is hitting the sauce. You dont think the little bastard LIED to us do you???
April 20th, 2006 at 5:10 pmGeorgie’s toasting with juice, right?
April 20th, 2006 at 5:15 pmDry drunk, my ass.
Hu thinking to himself, “I’ve got this dumbass by the balls.
April 20th, 2006 at 5:19 pmTo bad times, YAY!
April 20th, 2006 at 5:21 pmChina’s Bush’s kind of nation – unfettered capitalism without any pesky democracy. It’s neocon Candy Land.
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April 20th, 2006 at 5:24 pmhttp://griperblade.blogspot.com – grumblings from the heartland
Nice to see that the American obsession with low-cost shopping has led to this. Every time you shop at Wal-Mart,remember this discussion. (and if you don’t, good on ya’ mate).
April 20th, 2006 at 5:27 pmWhen I was a child ,a teenager and young adult ,Hu would not be in this country right now with all the Pomp that went on this morning.I remember when America would denounce this redstate country but in my middle years the bastards that took over my country has shredded My Comsitution ,My Bill of Rights and My Honor as a Honorable Country.
I hear the Bones of America’s president rattling in their graves,I hear the Bones of the Framers of America Consitution Rattling in their graves saying America Have You No Shame by this Pomp and Grand Standing with Dicators and Human Rights Abusers. Rememebr T Square? Remember how teh poor in China live in the Gutters is this a Vision of the Coming Of The New America?
I am appalled by what is taking place in the Face of Freedom,Justice in the Capitol Of Unfreeamerica .
April 20th, 2006 at 5:34 pmOK, so China is not the model of human rights preservation. But for Bush to have made any statement on human rights to the Chinese President would have been so blatantly hypocritical, and Hu would have been able to burn him right so bad with such a number of examples of US violations in that regard, it would have been pretty humiliating. Not just for Bush, but for all of the US, which for some insane reason decided to reelect him. If we had a better recent record, maybe we could have said something. Not living in China, I don’t know how bad the situation is there, so seriously, of the two presidents I almost have to wonder who’s really the worse one.
April 20th, 2006 at 5:39 pmOK, so China is not the model of human rights initiatives. But for Bush to have made any statement on human rights to the Chinese President would have been so blatantly hypocritical, and Hu would have been able to burn him right so bad with such a number of examples of US violations in that regard, it would have been pretty humiliating. Not just for Bush, but for all of the US, which for some insane reason decided to reelect him. If we had a better recent record, maybe we could have said something. Not living in China, I don’t know how bad the situation is there, so seriously, of the two presidents I almost have to wonder who’s really the worse one.
April 20th, 2006 at 5:39 pmWith renditions, Gitmo, black hole prisons, wire-taping, talk of dropping nuclear bombs who are we to give lessons?
April 20th, 2006 at 5:43 pmMaybe this time they’d better keep all the doors unlocked.
Anyway, see what I have to live with? Please don’t tell me these wingnuts are the sole reason for my hit count skyrocketing thse past four days.
April 20th, 2006 at 5:58 pmBush has met his master. Hu, and his aids are stifeling laughs everytime bush attempts to act cordial. Ironicly a minute after bush talks about freedom of speech, a protester is arrested. bush later appologised to Hu. Check this picture out.
Left Of Center
April 20th, 2006 at 5:59 pm#26 I read an article that stated when the Presidents Bush and Hu met for a photo-op and softball interview a Chinese woman yelled out “Stop the torture and killing†disrupting the event. I am just wondering to which President she was yelling it to. Any help?
Comment by dlet — April 20, 2006 @ 3:25 pm
This comment is over in the 33% approval thread. I wonder if the woman was ‘overlooked’ and allowed to go on for two and a half minutes in Chinese before the secret service removed her. Sean Insannity seemed to jump all over it as if that sort of disruption is the great freedom of speech in action, that it wouldn’t be allowed in China. Just how did she get a press pass in the first place?
I got the feeling that there’s more to this story.
April 20th, 2006 at 6:02 pm(Caption contest)
April 20th, 2006 at 6:11 pm“You’ll let me keep my spread down in Texas, won’t ya Huey, huh?”
“I don’t really give a rats a$$ about my people either, ya see, I just want a place to hang out with my buddies , ya see…”
Heard that in China, the Chinese children are forbidden to play video games. China exports these videos games to American children as a means to ‘dumb down’ the US. What Bush&Co is too stupid to realize is that China is already taking over our country. So tax evaders – beware – China executes tax evaders. The Chinese are patient and not impulsive like Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld.
April 20th, 2006 at 6:15 pmCaption contest:
April 20th, 2006 at 6:28 pmHeh, heh, this is the juice of someyoungguy, heh.
of course he agreed to no unscripted questions – that’s what Bush requires, too… like snowpeas in a pod, these two…
April 20th, 2006 at 6:31 pmhow about
“did you see that there brokeback mountain movie yet?”
followed up by
” you want to camping?”
April 20th, 2006 at 6:51 pmAnd how did the Clinton White House handle visit by China? Anyone? Let’s see how many partisan heads roll after finding that out.
The simple truth is that the Chinese president would not even be there if the White House didn’t do things the way they wanted. So you choose between a visit where they can try to actually influence China, albeit do as they say about the press conference, or you can choose to have no visit at all.
What’s your choice? Oh right, I forgot the magical third choice for all the brain-dead idealists living on this site: do the opposite of what China wanted, and then China would be delighted and give all their people freedom and democracy.
Yup. I bet that’s what half of you were thinking anyways. Take your meds.
April 20th, 2006 at 7:01 pmCNN is covering this like war just broke out.
April 20th, 2006 at 7:19 pmGive me a break people. I think we’re mature enough to not make gay jokes when we see two guys who are just in a picture together, even if one of them is our reprehensible president. (I don’t follow Chinese politics, so I’m not making any judgment calls there.)
April 20th, 2006 at 8:16 pmI believe Bush was saying, “I never drink…wine” when this photo was taken.
April 20th, 2006 at 8:44 pm[...] Bush and Hu Toast Political Oppression @ http://thinkprogress.org En: ThinkProgress.org, Political Blogs, huffingtonpost.com, CrooksAndLiars.com/ — April 20, 2006 [...]
April 20th, 2006 at 9:25 pm[...] Bush and Hu Toast Political Oppression @ http://thinkprogress.org En: asides, ThinkProgress.org — April 20, 2006 [...]
April 20th, 2006 at 9:25 pm#13: From Bush’s facial expressions and his eager-to-please dances, you could tell that both men knew who had whose nuts in a nutcracker. Oh. How the mighty have fallen.
We have lost the moral authority to even ask, let alone demand, China work on their human rights record and progress toward democracy. Without that moral authority, we are nothing more than a very strong school yard bully talking to the new kid on the block; a kid who promises to be equally strong, if not stronger. Truly pathetic.
April 20th, 2006 at 9:29 pmNot a peep about the human rights violations in Red China until you can get Bush in the picture with Hu. But even so, I’m surprised that Satan would divide his house like that. Carry on losers.
April 20th, 2006 at 9:55 pmMr Hu basically told the bunghole to piss off, forget about no stinkin’ currency revaluation, no stinkin’ human rights, and, oh, yes, get your goddam loser hands off my Brioni:
Bush, Chinese leader fail to agree on key issues
BY RON HUTCHESON
Knight Ridder Newspapers
[...]
Another awkward moment came at the end of the arrival ceremony when Bush grabbed Hu’s arm to stop him from walking off in the wrong direction. The Chinese leader seemed startled, then annoyed, as he turned to find Bush clutching the sleeve of his suit.
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/politics/14390608.htm
April 20th, 2006 at 10:03 pmHu: “What is this democracy of which you speak, Ugly American?”
Dubya: “Uh, uh… let’s ask an Iraqi…”
Btw, if you missed the first link this morning, this is Bob Herbert’s latest take on the war. This guy’s fast becoming my fave columnist. Look out, MoDo.
April 20th, 2006 at 10:48 pmhahahaha, shooooot. “what is democracy”, hu says. well i guess if you want democracy don’t look to the u.s. did you guys pick up on that like i did. what a slap in the face of bushyco and “democracy”. toast to that. fricken riechwing peckerwoods.
April 20th, 2006 at 11:27 pmand what was the asian woman saying during the protest? anyone, missed it.
April 20th, 2006 at 11:29 pmBush acquiesced to a Chinese demand to allow no unscripted questions at the press briefing
Bush didn’t acquiesce – this is how he conducts ALL of his press briefings. He probably just said “Duh” when Hu asked.
April 20th, 2006 at 11:50 pmHu and Bush are both totalitarian dictators, so they toasted turning their citizens into low paid serfs/indentured-slaves! Shame on both their worthless despicable souls!
April 21st, 2006 at 12:03 amPaul Krugman. Read. Discuss.
April 21st, 2006 at 7:29 amThe reality is that oppression in China continues to thrive
April 21st, 2006 at 8:06 amNo wonder George needed to have a chat. Pick up a few pointers ref the pesky elections that at present he may have to put up with
Nepal’s king to address nation
Nepal’s king will address his increasingly embattled nation today, state radio announced, as tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets around the capital, Kathmandu, to demand he restore democracy. The U.S. ambassador to Nepal warns King Gyanendra “will lose his kingdom,” if he doesn’t quickly end political crisis. “His time is running out,” Ambassador James Moriarty said.
http://www.cnn.com
April 21st, 2006 at 8:26 amWhy the religious right shoudl want seperation of church and state:
“The protester was standing on a camera platform on the South Lawn. The woman continued shouting as she was led away by uniformed Secret Service agents.
She shouted in English, “President Bush, stop him from persecuting the Falun Gong!” and in Chinese, “President Hu, your days are numbered.”
The Chinese government condemns the spiritual movement Falun Gong as a cult. China began a crackdown on the group in 1999. The Epoch Times, which disavowed the protest, is affiliated with the Falun Gong movement”
http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/04/21/bush.china/index.html
April 21st, 2006 at 8:30 amWhy the religious right shoudl want seperation of church and state:
Comment by unbelievable
Wrong. That’s why the Religious Right wants the Filthy Left as far away as possible from the reins of power.
April 21st, 2006 at 9:23 amI hate to say it but Bush looks like he is horny for HU in that pic > lol. He is giving HU the come to the restroom with me look! George really misses Jeff Gannon his hooker stud!
April 21st, 2006 at 2:37 pmOld Bushie has another stupid look on his face. What an idiot.
April 21st, 2006 at 3:28 pmThe Dems need to win in November and take our America back from the Right Wing Religious Nuts.
GO DEMS GO!!!!
April 21st, 2006 at 3:32 pmLook at Bush’s face…..what a simpleton.
April 22nd, 2006 at 8:32 am#24 and the like, to great degree, American development owes a lot to Scientific Spirit, which fundamentally is Descartes’ methodic doubt. I would like to ask you and the like how much you know as proved knowledge about China. We Chinese don’t have any interest in taking over America (how stupid to think so!), but in be friendly with American people, who are models for modest Chinese people. No matter white or yellow, black or brown, we are all human beings. You have your way of life whereas others have theirs. Do be so millitant or agressive and always think you are truth holder. Descartes is always there urging us to doubt whether my truth is true.
May 24th, 2006 at 5:42 pm#24 and the like, to great degree, American development owes a lot to Scientific Spirit, which fundamentally is Descartes’ methodic doubt. I would like to ask you and the like how much you know as proved knowledge about China. We Chinese don’t have any interest in taking over America (how stupid to think so!), but in be friendly with American people, who are models for modest Chinese people. No matter white or yellow, black or brown, we are all human beings. You have your way of life whereas others have theirs. Don’t be so millitant or agressive and always think you are truth holder. Descartes is always there urging us to doubt whether my truth is true.
May 24th, 2006 at 5:45 pm