Transcript: Shunning Dissidents, Obama Leaves China Without Firm Pledges on Trade, Climate

"President Barack Obama’s first official trip to China resulted in no firm agreements and has been criticized as being tightly scripted by Beijing. We discuss Obama’s visit and the future of US-Chinese relations with British author and journalist Martin Jacques, author of When China Rules the World: The End of the Western World and the Birth of a New Global Order."

in reference to:

"AMY GOODMAN: Well, for more on President Obama’s visit and the future of US-Chinese relations, I’m joined here in Burbank, California by British author and journalist Martin Jacques. His latest book, just out in the United States, is called When China Rules the World: The End of the Western World and the Birth of a New Global Order. He is a visiting senior fellow at the London School of Economics and a columnist for The Guardian and New Statesman in Britain. Martin Jacques, welcome to Democracy Now! You’re here speaking at UCLA and USC, University of Southern California. First, assess Obama’s trip. How significant was it? How historic? What was accomplished? MARTIN JACQUES: Well, I think that the relationship between the United States and China is going to be absolutely pivotal to global affairs, because they’re the two most important countries in the world, and they’ve got to get on. And I think that the fact that they’re talking, the fact that they discussed many issues, from currency questions to global warming and so on, that in itself is a significant achievement. And there are going to be many such exchanges, of course. AMY GOODMAN: Talk about the main points of the meeting, what you think President Obama wanted to accomplish, President Hu, what he wanted to accomplish. Many are saying President Obama got very little from China. MARTIN JACQUES: Well, I think that the two key issues are about the state of the global economy. The Chinese angle on this is that they want to, as far as possible, protect their money, the huge amounts of money in US debt. So they’re worried about the value of the dollar. And they’re also worried about the buoyancy of the American and Western markets in terms of their own exports, because those are their biggest export markets. But on the American side, they’re particularly concerned about the valuation of the RMB, the Chinese currency, which they feel to be undervalued. There was no significant shift on either side in relationship to this, as far as one can tell. But these things are rarely—any shifts will not be taken at a meeting like this. That is not how the Chinese operate. AMY GOODMAN: How do the Chinese operate? MARTIN JACQUES: Well, the Chinese—the Chinese do not want to be seen to be pressured. So if you pressure them, you’ll get a negative response. But they do listen. And over a long period, there’s been a lot of cooperation between the United States and China. It’s not that the Chinese are immune to what the Americans say, but if the Americans say it in the wrong way, they’ll get the wrong Chinese reaction."
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