Take a look at PM makes great leap on China from The Australian for something we might have missed:
That George W. has trouble with English, let alone Mandarin, makes impossible the chance of him repeating this same maneuver. What makes it even trickier is Bush's selling off America to the Chinese to pay for his Iraqi war."For Rudd has shown the world that it is possible to be a good friend of China and still speak to the Chinese leadership frankly and in public about its appalling human rights practices. This is a profound revolution."
***No Western leader, with the partial exception of US presidents, does what Rudd did this week: criticise the Chinese over human rights abuses in Tibet before he arrives, in fact in a joint press conference with US President George W. Bush. Repeat the criticism in London. Absorb furious official Chinese protests in Beijing and Canberra, then go to China and repeat the offence in public, in front of a Chinese audience.
It's true that the Chinese censored this part of Rudd's speech at Beijing University. That is not the point. The Chinese were ropeable at Rudd's statement and millions of Chinese will hear about it one way and another. It figured prominently in CNN and BBC reports this week, as well as coverage by Deutsche Welle and countless other news services. I myself did an interview with Al Jazeera's global audience explaining Rudd's statements. These statements featured heavily in The Economist, as they did in newspapers and journals across the world. Given the internet, much of this finds its way back to the Chinese public.
Nonetheless, Rudd had a positive visit to China. Although the Chinese leadership was furious with him and took the unusual step of having party spokesmen denounce Rudd's views while he was in China, nonetheless it continued with the positive side of the visit, simultaneously embracing and honouring Rudd as it denounced his views. This is why his performance constitutes a cultural revolution in doing business with China.
Comments for this post
