The U.S. President in China

One tactic Republicans used in the last U.S. presidential campaign was the invention of the term “Obamao” to suggest an ideological affinity between the then Democratic candidate and Mao Tse-tung, the artifice of the Chinese revolution. In spite of being ingenious, the name didn’t stick because the electorate knew that Barack Obama did not have communist ideas, nor did he intend to impose an authoritarian regime on his country.

Curiously, where the name “Obamao” did stick was in China itself, where, even a few days ago in cities like Beijing and Shanghai, one could simply walk through any commercial zone to find t-shirts with the effigy of the U.S. president on Red Guard attire, green cap and red star included.

The “Obamao” t-shirts became so popular that the Chinese government resolved to censor them this week, for fear that the comparison could annoy the U.S. president when he lands in the Chinese capital tomorrow for his first, and historic, visit to the Asian giant.

I don’t believe Obama would be uncomfortable with his image on those t-shirts, for they transmit a distorted idea. In the end, what they reflect is his popularity in his host country and the honeymoon atmosphere he enjoys among the G-20.

The most important bilateral relationship in the world lives for the moment, since Barack Obama and the Chinese president Hu Jintao have met five times this year, in addition to countless phone conversations about crucial topics not just for their own countries, but for all the rest as well: the economic crisis, global warming, Islamic extremism and nuclear arms proliferation.

It seemed this way in spite of the differences between their political systems and the historic burden associated with their relationship. Neither China nor the United States is set to break the cordial atmosphere they have succeeded in constructing with much effort in the past 20 years.

Nevertheless, conflict between the countries seems inevitable, and not only because of the issues on which there is eternal disagreement, such as Tibetan autonomy and Taiwanese sovereignty, but rather because there is something more than funds at play – global hegemony.

George Bush forgot Japan, poorly managed the North Korean problem and ignored Indonesia, the most populous Muslim country in the world. Obama arrived in Asia to recover this land that was forgotten by a predecessor that, in his obsession with terrorism, neglected his role of leadership in the portion of the planet where 70 percent of the global population resides.

What the U.S. president wants now, on top of changing the perception that his only priorities are the conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Middle East, is to convince Asians that his country remains the indisputable leader of the Pacific. The subtle message is that China is a nascent star, but far from being a world power.

On the agenda for the meetings between Obama and Hu will be the global economy, commercial disputes, the devaluation of the yuan, climate change and even human rights. It will be as long a visit as the list of topics to discuss, but, although they don’t say it, everyone knows that the central matter is something else.

As we learned in school, two bodies cannot occupy the same space at the same time, and the transition between an era governed by the United States and its interests, and another dominated by China and its particular vision of the world will hardly be friendly.

I hope that the U.S. president enjoys his popularity in China, because I am not sure it is going to last long.