• published: 12 Nov 2014
• views: 38

Follow us on TWITTER: http://twitter.com/cnforbiddennews Like us on FACEBOOK: http://www.facebook.com/chinaforbiddennews U.S. President Barack Obama arrived in Beijing on Nov. 10 for his three-day visit to China. He announced the longest validity visa policy with China, and reiterated the concern about China 's human rights issues. Obama also expressed that the most critical issue regarding Hong Kong's Occupy Central is avoiding violence. He stressed, the United States would not remain silent on the human rights issues and HK's pro-democracy protests. Obama's speech at the APEC summit lasted nearly 20 minutes. He began with the visa extension for Chinese people and the cooperation between the U.S. and China. He also stressed that the U.S. would continue to concern about China's human rights, press freedom and other issues, including China's market access and creation of a fair business environment, etc. Obama hoped that issues regarding the bilateral investment agreement and the elimination of trade barriers. He also urged the Chinese authorities to reject the use of cyber theft for commercial gain Obama: "We look to China to create a more level playing field on which foreign companies are treated fairly, so that they can compete fairly with Chinese companies.……. We look to China to become an innovative economy that values the protection of intellectual property rights, and rejects cyber theft of trade secrets for commercial gain." As to the Occupy Central movements for HK's universal suffrage, Obama said that his priority was to ensure that violence would be avoided. He added that the U.S. would not ignore China's human rights and the issues regarding Hong Kong. Obama: "…and yes to stand up for human rights and freedom of the press. We don't suggest these things because they are good for us, we suggest China do these things for the sake of sustainable growth in China and stability in the Asia-Pacific region." Before Obama's visit to China, two heavyweights on U.S. Senate's Foreign Relations Committee called on Obama to raise China's human rights issues when he met with Xi Jinping. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL), ranking member of the Subcommittee on East Asian and Pacific Affairs of the Committee on Foreign Relations, and Ben Cardin (D-Md.), senior senator and chairman of the Committee, sent a letter to President Obama to express their concern about the Chinese regime's authoritarian control at the expense of human rights and the rule of law. Commentator Wu Fan: "The Republicans should be quite dissatisfied with the Chinese regime. Therefore, prior to Obama's trip to Beijing this time, two Republican senators wrote to Obama, asking him to talk about the issues regarding human rights, including Hong Kong issues. Despite the fact that Xi would not follow what the U.S. said, Obama must touch upon these issues." In terms of China's human rights issues, Obama said: "We don't expect China to follow an American model in every instance but we're going to continue to have concerns about human rights." Beijing human rights activist Hu Jia: "I particularly hope that when Mr. Obama is talking about human rights, he should know that the restriction on human rights issues in the meeting itself would have a tremendous impact on an ordinary Chinese citizen." Hu Jia, who was under house arrest for 45 days because of this APEC Summit, used Barack Obama and Xi Jinping as an example. Both Barack Obama and Xi Jinping have daughters, and they can be with their daughters freely. But only because of his support for the Hong Kong incident, Hu was placed under house arrest and cannot live with his daughter. Hu Jia said that it's indeed a sharp contrast in China. Hu Jia: "I live in Beijing. As to the most common complaints from Beijing residents… the main issue in Tianjin area is the heating problem. They said that heating would affect the air quality; but last night we saw the tremendous fireworks display for the APEC meeting. Whether they referred to them as eco-friendly fireworks or other kinds of fireworks, I would say that they only allowed officials to do whatever they want, but the civilians cannot do anything." To ensure the success of the APEC meetings, the Chinese authorities intensified its control over petitioners, and forbade them from accessing the vicinity of the APEC venue. Moreover, some petitioners even received phone calls from the local petition office, luring them with money to prevent them from going to Beijing for petition during APEC meetings. . 《神韵》2014世界巡演新亮点 http://www.ShenYunPerformingArts.org/