Obama’s Meeting with Dalai Lama Risks Damage to China-European Relations

The long predicted meeting Tuesday between Barack Obama and the Dalai Lama provoked Beijing’s anger and degraded relations between the U.S. and China, strained again after the Google affair and the sale of arms to Taiwan.

From our correspondent in Beijing.

Last November, watching the first official visit of Barack Obama in China, many Western observers believed they were witnessing the emergence of a “G2” associating Beijing and Washington in a dialogue in which the two nations agreeably hashed out the big international issues. Since then, Sino-American relations have been considerably strained and the pre-announced meeting Tuesday night of the American President and the Dalai Lama should kindle more bilateral friction between the first and third largest economies. Nevertheless, a major deterioration of relations does not seem very probable.

Despite warnings by the Chinese authorities, the American President will maintain his meeting today (in the Map Room of the White House, not in the symbolic Oval Office) with the Tibetan spiritual leader. If he sees in the Dalai Lama an “internationally respected cultural and religious figure,” Barack Obama has never associated a political objective with the meeting and always recognized the sovereignty of the China over the autonomous region of Tibet. This appeasement attempt does not satisfy Beijing, which continues to declare the religious leader a “wolf” campaigning for Tibetan independence. Accustomed to the aggressiveness of the communist regime, analysts do not predict any worsening of Sino-American relations on this issue.

Google and Censorship

In the disagreement between the communist powerhouse and the American company Google, which affirmed last month that it would refuse from now on to censor the results of its research on its local Chinese site, the Obama Administration showed itself in solidarity with the California corporation. Hillary Clinton, the Secretary of State, has elsewhere provoked Beijing’s anger while pleading, at the end of January, for a free internet in China. Beyond the commentary, Washington does not seem decided to engage in a trial of strength on freedom of information with Beijing.

The Sale of Arms to Taiwan

At the beginning of February, the White House validated the sale of $6.4 million worth of arms to the government of Taiwan. This move was sharply denounced by Beijing, which refuses all foreign aid to the independent island, which China still considers a secessionist territory. If it traditionally criticizes these sales of weapons, the Chinese government, reinforced by the vigor of its economical power, has, this time, considerably raised the tone of its complains and has even risked threatening reprisals against American contracts.

It seems rather improbable that Beijing would dares to take their pique out on a giant such as Boeing. A campaign against the American group would reduce the strength of China’s negotiations with Airbus, weigh on the agreements about technology transfers, frighten foreign investors, and encourage protectionist actions by the United States.

Commercial Litigation and the Yuan

Then, last autumn, the United States multiplied the increases of customs duties on several Chinese products. Beijing has deposited resources on its coast against American practices toward the World Trade Organization. The WTO is momentarily examining the recent increase of American tariffs on Chinese tires, but similar litigation goes on between the two giants on steel, poultry, and primary sector matters. These conflicts, which are at risk of multiplying during the approach of American mid-term Congressional elections (in November), are part of the framework of a virulent debate on the value of the yuan. American industrial and elected officials continue to accuse Beijing of maintaining an artificially low value of its currency to increase the exportation of merchandise “made in China.” These officials demand an immediate reappraisal of more than 10 percent of the yuan’s value, but this is opposed by the official Chinese sales talk: Beijing asserts that they do not want to jeopardize the health of their growing economy.