Obama has private meeting with China
Nov 19, 2011 Obama has private meeting with China
By David Jackson, USA TODAY
Updated 2h 40m ago
CAPTION
By Charles Dharapak, AP
President Obama wrapped up his Asia-Pacific trip today by holding a suddenly scheduled meeting with a top official from the primary focus of his journey: China.Among the topics discussed by Obama and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabo: The president's criticism throughout the week that China is artificially lowering the value of its currency, hurting U.S. trade.
"The President went through a number of the points that he had made to President Hu Jintao in Hawaii in the earlier part of the week," said National Security Adviser Tom Donilon. "And they're as I described -- the importance of China's currency policy to the world and the appropriate contribution that it needs to make in terms of a fairly valued currency policy; (and) some of the specific issues around business practices."
The two leaders also discussed China's maritime disputes with neighbors in the South China Sea.
"The United States is a Pacific power; it's a trading power; it's a maritime power," Donilon said. "The United States has an interest in the freedom of navigation, the free flow of commerce, the peaceful resolution of disputes."
The Obama-China meeting capped the president's nine-day diplomatic trip to Hawaii, Australia, and Indonesia, a trek that included a pair of Asia-Pacific economic summits shadowed by the growth of China.
Obama also used the trip to announce increased military cooperation between the United State and Australia -- a move widely seen as response to the military expansion of China.
As for Saturday's sudden meeting, the AFP wire service reported: "U.S. President Barack Obama prodded China's Premier Wen Jiabao Saturday on maritime territorial rows and economic wrangles after days of tension over Washington's Pacific diplomacy push."
In summing up the president's efforts, Bloomberg News reported:
President Barack Obama's pivot toward Asia is shifting the U.S. approach to China by teaming up with its neighbors to press the world's second-largest economy to "play by the rules."See photos of: Barack Obama, Hu Jintao
During a trip that began in Hawaii Nov. 11, Obama has announced steps to expand trade and military cooperation with Asia-Pacific nations that share U.S. concerns over China's currency and intellectual property policies and territorial claims. Obama met with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao today in Bali, the final leg of the journey.
"U.S. pressure on China has intensified," said Tim Condon, Singapore-based head of Asian research at ING Groep NV (INGA), adding that the shift has "startled" the Chinese. "China can't ignore the U.S. stance. The only question is how they interpret it."
The administration's foreign policy strategy is being refocused on Asia as Obama wraps up wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and two and a half years after he announced an effort to step up engagement in the Muslim world and on Mideast peace negotiations that largely have fizzled.
Obama has said repeatedly throughout the trip that he is not pursuing a containment strategy against China and that his emphasis is on creating U.S. jobs. Even with signs that the U.S. recovery is accelerating -- the Standard & Poor's 500 Index has risen 11 percent since the beginning of October -- the nation's unemployment rate has hovered at or above 9 percent for more than two years.
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