With President Obama's Asia trip coming up, it is interesting to note that Chinese media outlets seem to think he is a weak leader and his words are empty:
With this trip to Asia, Obama will have visited 20 countries in his first year in office, the most of any US president in history. This is certainly a great record by itself. But what is more important is not just his sincerity but also his credibility.
People naturally compare former US President George W. Bush and Obama. Even though the latter can be more eloquent in delivery, the former, once he said he was going to do something, no matter how difficult it was, followed through.
Source: Global Times ("Obama Needs Deeds, Not Just Pretty Words")
According to the Wall Street Journal, Obama isn't traveling to Asia with plans to actually achieve anything. According to Jeffrey Bader of the National Security Council, Obama will be in full campaign mode with photo-ops, press conferences and more empty rhetoric:
...Mr. Obama will likely rely heavily on oratory and personal popularity to try to boost U.S. influence while maintaining close economic ties to a region that has become the biggest creditor to the U.S.
What the trip lacks in achievements, Mr. Obama hopes to make up in appearances, news conferences in Tokyo, Beijing and Seoul, a speech on U.S. engagement with Asia at Tokyo's Suntory Hall and a speech and town hall-style session with young people in Shanghai. Mr. Bader said the idea is to use the president's "special communications gifts."
Source: Wall Street Journal ("US Lowers Goals for Asia Trip")
Wow, that's some plan. With Obama's recent snub of the Dalai Lama and his administration's admiration of Chairman Mao, the Chinese government must be salivating.
MEANWHILE... In what could be the biggest concession made by China, the Chinese government has been cracking down on shopkeepers who sell Obama/Mao T-shirts:
T-shirts showing Barack Obama dressed as one of Mao Zedong's Red Guards have been taken off sales racks in China ahead of the US president's visit, a newspaper reported Tuesday.
Market stalls and souvenir shops in Beijing have reportedly been ordered to stop selling the popular T-shirts showing Obama in a revolutionary cap and a Mao suit.
However, one stall holder near the capital's Forbidden City told the newspaper that he had a call from the Beijing Administration for Industry and Commerce about the T-shirts last week.
'They told me not to sell any more,' he told the newspaper. 'Later on, three officers came to my shop to check, and they told me not to sell any this week.'
Other stall holders told the newspaper no one would sell the T-shirts until after the visit by Obama, who is to arrive in Shanghai Sunday before visiting Beijing Monday to Wednesday.
Source: Monsters and Critics
