Deal with Obama’s Humility Calmly, Urges Chinese Scholar

The biggest highlight on Obama’s agenda for November 17th is the announcement of the Sino-U.S. Joint Statement, giving a clear answer to the question of how to position Sino-U.S. relations, the hot topic for the past year. China and the United States are committed to building partnerships to take on the common challenges, which will guide the development of Sino-U.S. relations for the foreseeable future.

Contrary to my expectations, the meeting between the two countries’ leaders on November 17th remained relaxed and cheerful; President Obama did not emphasize American-style democracy as strongly he did toward students the day before, although he made routine mentions of so-called ‘universal rights’ to advocate the values that Americans like to hear. However, he displayed due modesty as a young man meeting the older President Hu Jintao and Chinese government leaders. Nevertheless, we should not get too excited about Obama’s humility, as U.S. leaders don’t behave according to China’s idea of common sense. We must learn to use campaign thinking to capture the political intentions behind Obama’s behaviors in order to actively defend China’s national interests. I feel that in regard to utilizing Chinese psychology to advance U.S. national interests, the U.S. leaders’ capability has improved a lot in recent years, especially as there are a great many Chinese think tanks on Obama’s team. China needs to approach this cautiously.

On November 17th, Chinese and U.S. leaders held both small-scale and large-scale talks. Small-scale talks between the heads of the two nations focused on issues where there were unequal levels of diplomatic authority representing the two countries at earlier stages of communications, and focused specifically on the principles and direction of Sino-U.S. relations. We may assume that the core issues of small-scale talks had to do with the wording of the text of the Sino-U.S. Joint Statement. The main difference between small-scale talks and large-scale talks lies in whether the talk is open to the media. I think the key reason why these small-scale talks are so extended is that both sides may have different opinions about some issues in the Sino-U.S. Joint Statement. Due to more issues being involved in the Sino-U.S. Joint Statement, it is normal in diplomatic circles that the talks should exceed the scheduled time.

As for the banquets for Barack Obama on the 16th and 17th, they were equally very significant.

In foreign affairs, a banquet must be carried out strictly in accordance with diplomatic protocol. On the first night after Obama arrived, the banquet hosted for him by President Hu Jintao at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse was an informal dinner, a kind of unofficial event to welcome the state’s guests from a long way away; it is very flexible, without arranged seats or formal speeches, and there are appropriately fewer dishes, with no soup or alcoholic drinks. It has a relaxed “feast” style more suited to welcoming friends. However, Obama’s visit to China this time is a state visit, which requires a grand state banquet, to solemnly entertain diplomatic guests on behalf of the state. A state banquet has elaborate specifications with very strict etiquette, which generally includes the national flags hanging in the hall, playing of national anthems and dinner music, and Chinese President Hu Jintao and President Obama addressing all the guests with a banquet speech or toast, and a very strict dress code for attendees. For a state visit by foreign heads of state, a state banquet is essential. The absence of it would be disrespectful and foreign diplomatic measures could be made in protest.

(Organized by our reporter Wu Huawei.)

Zhao Kejin, our newspaper’s commentator, is deputy director of the China-U.S. Relations Research Center at Qinghua University.