The Washington Post reports that the Obama administration asserts that relations between the US and China are at “at an all-time high.”

In 1998, when President Bill Clinton stood before television cameras in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People, the United States owed more money to Spain than to China and did more than twice as much trade with Mexico. At a freewheeling news conference, Clinton criticized China’s military crackdown a decade earlier in Tiananmen Square and traded spirited jibes with President Jiang Zemin.

On Tuesday, Obama stood in the same building alongside another Chinese leader. This time, with the United States in hock to China for more than $1 trillion dollars and flooded with Chinese-made goods, it was a Chinese-style news conference. Each leader read a prepared statement and eyed the other in silence. There were no questions.

Since leaving Washington last Thursday for an eight-day tour of Asia, Obama has occasionally nudged China on issues such as Tibet and Internet censorship. But he has more often trumpeted China’s achievements and pleaded with Beijing for increased help on the world stage.

China returned the effusiveness in its music selection at a state dinner for Obama on Tuesday night. The People’s Liberation Army serenaded him and other U.S. officials with “I Just Called to Say I Love You,” “In the Mood” and “We Are the World,” as Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton sat on either side of the Chinese president over a steak dinner. In many ways, the United States and China have never been closer

The Chinese officials really have a sense of humor. The music selections are hilarious and would no doubt flatter the narcissist-in-chief, who probably really believes that he wowed them in Beijing. (Of course we know what the Chinese really think of America’s economic policies, and it’s no laughing matter.)

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 19th, 2009 at 5:52 am and is filed under China, Democrats, General, Republicans, business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.