Oba Mao

What ever I read, in the Newyork Times, Washington Post, and all other major international news gave me the impression that Obama's visit to China was a win-loss situation, as AP reported "produced no tangible wins for the United States".

Critics accused Obama for being "too soft" on China. While China managed to get what they asked, U.S did not get anything substantial in return. However, His Holiness the Dalai Lama does not think, Mr. Obama is too soft. "it was just a different approach or style in dealing with the Chinese leadership, H.H said during a TV interview in Delhi".


  Obama is elected to bring changes in America, but he has not brought any changes to the country and  he has  set a bad precedent by kowtowing to the Chinese.  First he did not meet with the Dalai Lama in Oct, apparantly to appease the Chinese. Secondly at the joint press conference in Bejing with President Hu, he stated that " We did note that while we recognize that Tibet is part of the People's Republic of China, the United States supports the early resumption of dialogue between the Chinese government and representatives of the Dalai Lama to resolve any concerns and differences that the two sides may have."Tibetan supporters percieved this statement nothing more than a "lip service'. This lukewarm public statement on the issue of Tibet is undersirable and does not address the underlying issue at all.  Chinese government urges  US to repeat China's soveright over Tibet, and they crave for legitimacy over Tibet. This is the public statement by a US president recognizing China's claims over Tibet. See an interesting article on this here http://www.phayul.com/news/article.aspx?c=4&t=1&id=26036&article=Tibet+thrown+under+the+bus.  

The Obama administration starting with Hillary Clinton made a flawed decision in dealing with China. By pushing the issues of human rights to the backburner,Obama administration completely failed to grasp, how the Chinese communist government functions.  China can not be a trusted, China does not have the moral authority. This is because human rights are not respected in China.

  Human rights issue should be an integral part of US approach/ in dealing with China.  Hillary Clinton's statement that human rights should not interfere US dealing with China on major international issues, is a very naive thoughts. In a fascinatiing and illuminating article by Zhang Zuhua  and Jiang Qishen on washington post, (two of the original drafters of Charter 08, a documen calling for greater democracy and human rights in China), they argued Obama administration's approach to human rights is "misguided". The article  titled "For blue skies, first clear the air on human rights".the native Chinese authors commented that "the Chinese government does not reciprocate when it is given things for free. It simply takes them and moves on. Foreigners may not know this, but to people in China it is plain as day".

 Human rights issue is inter connected with all other social issues, without solving human rights issues, any solution to other matters are wishingful thinking. The authors says in the article " Human rights in our society are not an isolated item that can be set aside while all else moves forward,  Human rights are not just a humanitarian matter of helping a few dissidents get out of jail. They are are a systemic problem that is connected to openness, rule of law...".

Finally for Tibetan the former commuist leader Mao is a symbole of evil, who casted a dark spell on Tibet and its people, as predicted a man with a blackmole on the face will ruin the land of snow.

Obama's descent in China is haild by Tibetans as "A Black man, with a black umbrella, in a black suit descended on a black day and made a black statement on Tibet".Black in Tibetan language has s negative connotation. This sums up the extend of frustation and anger at Obama prostituting Tibet to China.
So Obamao is an interesting creation of two characters. Obama is like a Mao, hasnt done anything good.

Maybe it is a little premature assessment, the most important things is to see what happens next. Will Obama meet the Dalai Lama? and when and in what context?  As a Tibetan expert says it the meeting between the two leaders is a symbole and symbolism is important at this time.