President Barack Obama made sure Hu Jintao, head of the People’s Republic of China, felt welcome and made sure the communist nation’s flags were prominently on display on Washington, D.C. street signs and light poles.
However, protestors led by Tibetans, kept up efforts to show displeasure at the Chinese leader’s visit to the United States with three days of demonstrations.
Meanwhile, at the Capitol building the House Foreign Affairs Committee was meeting and the reception to Hu Jintao’s tour was decidedly chilly. A hearing titled “Assessing China’s Behavior and its Impact on U.S. Interests” was timed to coincide with the White House festivities.
Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Ileana Ros-Lehtinen [R-FL] was blunt in her opening remarks:
“Today, as we meet here, the Laogai Research Foundation estimates that there are close to seven million people currently in Chinese labor camps. It is as if the entire population of Switzerland were being held behind barbed wire.”
Ros-Lehtinen continued, “Chinese authorities’ ruthless campaign against Falun Gong practitioners, a peaceful organization which promotes truth, compassion and tolerance, has continued unabated for eleven years.”
“The brutal denial of rights to the people of Tibet and the Uyghur people, and the forced reparation of North Korean refugees, continues to draw the attention of concerned citizens throughout the world.”
The Foreign Affairs Committee Chair asked, “Does a responsible stakeholder [China] declare the South China Sea as one of its ‘core interests’ in open defiance of the navigational and territorial rights of its Southeast Asian neighbors?”
One of the witnesses giving testimony on China was Larry Wortzel, Commissioner of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission who discussed the 2010 Commission report A Rising China and East Asian Security: Implications fo the United States.
Included in the lengthy study was a section on Taiwan that warned about a shift in the strategic balance of force in the region. “China’s continued military buildup against Taiwan has resulted in a military balance that favors the mainland, especially in regard to Taiwan’s air defense capabilities.”
The Commission report elaborated, “Taiwan’s ability to achieve air superiority over its airspace continued to decrease over the past year.”
Another witness before the Foreign Affairs Committee was Yang Jianli who said, “Today, China is the only country in the world that imprisons a Nobel Peace Prize winner.” Yang continued, “China is the country with the most prisoners-of-conscience in the world.”
Hu Jintao, however, never head the Congressional criticism; instead Hu was being feted at the White House, surrounded by fawning reporters and obliging government officials.
Source: Michael Richardson - Boston Progressive Examiner
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