Chinese president tries to ignore U.S. press questions
BEIJING -- On his last day in China, President Obama participated in a state visit with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Xi welcomed Mr. Obama to the Great Hall of the People with a formal ceremony. The two leaders engaged in bi-lateral talks and held a two-question press conference.
Speaking side by side with Xi in the Great Hall of the People, President Obama walked a delicate line, hailing new accords reached by the U.S. and China while scolding the host country for its human rights record.
Mr. Obama said he was pleased with agreements reached on carbon emissions, visas, import tariffs and military cooperation. "When we work together, it's good for the United States. It's good for China and it's good for the world," Mr. Obama said.
President Xi was more reserved and seemed to acknowledge the competitive relationship between the two powers, saying through a translator, "The Pacific Ocean is broad enough to accommodate the development of both China and the United States and our two countries should work together to contribute to security in Asia."
There was one wrinkle in the news conference. The delegations had agreed that the two presidents would each make statements and take one question from their respective press corps. When a New York Times reporter asked Mr. Xi about extending visas for foreign journalists, and the Chinese president initially declined to respond, which elicited a surprised expression from Mr. Obama. After taking a question from a China Daily reporter, Mr. Xi answered, saying foreign journalists who did not obey the ruling party's laws were the problem, not China's restrictive media censorship.
Still, in spite of the isolated moments of personal tension, the two leaders agree their countries share many interests-de-nuclearization of Iran and North Korea, the need for a robust response to the Ebola outbreak and a stable Afghanistan. President Obama said the U.S. would be "candid and clear about our intentions" on areas where they disagree.
One such area: Hong Kong and human rights. President Xi implicated the U.S. in spurring pro-democracy protests there: "Hong Kong affairs are exclusively Chinese internal affairs and foreign countries should not interfere in those affairs in any form or fashion."
Describing a private conversation with Mr. Xi, President Obama extolled the virtues of free elections and self determination. "I described to him why it is so important for us to speak out for the freedoms that we believe are universal - rights that we believe are the birthright of all men and women wherever they live whether it is in New York or Paris or Hong Kong" the president said.
This story has been updated to reflect the sequence of events at the press conference with presidents Obama and Xi.