【09.11.16纽约时报】Obama Pushes Rights With Chinese Students

和解团结

【原文链接】http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/17/world/asia/17shanghai.html?_r=1&ref=global-home
【作者】David Barboza, MARK McDONALD
【日期】2009年11月16日
【原文】
SHANGHAI — President Barack Obamaheld a town hall meeting with university students in Shanghai on Mondayafternoon, and from the outset he struck a mostly conciliatory tone.

“We do not seek to contain China’srise,” Mr. Obama told the several hundred students at the Museum ofScience and Technology. “We know more is to be gained when great powerscooperate rather than collide.”

He repeatedly emphasized the need for bilateral efforts, especially on issues such as climate change and the reduction of greenhouse gases.

“Other countries around the world will be waiting to see what we do,”said Mr. Obama, in the middle of a weeklong visit to Asia. “This is theburden of leadership that both our countries have.”

He greeted the crowd by saying “hello” in Chinese, and quicklyapologized that his ability with the language was not as good as thestudents’ English. He then recounted the last three decades ofimproving ties between the two nations.

“Look how far we have come,” Mr. Obama said, highlighting growing trade and political ties.

In somewhat more pointed remarks, Mr. Obama discussed more sensitivethemes, saying the United States would push for freedom of expression(including no censorship of the Internet), political participation,respect for ethnic minorities and the empowering of women in society.He also said the United States would expand the number of Americanstudents studying in China to 100,000.

Unlike previous town hall gatherings in China with other Americanpresidents, Mr. Obama’s question-and-answer session was not broadcastlive on China’s official state network.

Instead, according to the official Chinese news agency Xinhua, livebroadcasts inside China were carried on the agency’s Web site and onlocal Shanghai stations. Edited portions were expected to be availablelater on Central China Television, or CCTV, the state network.

Previous town hall gatherings with visiting American leaders were shown live on CCTV: Bill Clinton spoke at Beijing University and took questions during a visit in 1998, and George W. Bush met with students at Tsinghua University in Beijing in 2002.

The White House streamed the event live on its Web site,which is not blocked or censored in China, and a simultaneous Chinesetranslation was offered. The feed also was available through the White House page on Facebook.

Xinhua said Monday that it had received 3,200 questions over the Internet for Mr. Obama’s session.

Some questions were about sober policy issues: bilateral cooperation incombating the global financial crisis, American import duties onChinese products and the sale of weapons to Taiwan.

In replying to  the question about arms sales and cross-strait relations he  essentially avoided a substantive answer.

Other questions were lighter: how does Mr. Obama keep fit; who pays forMrs. Obama’s dresses; does the president like kung pao chicken; is headept with chopsticks; how much wine can he drink at one sitting; doeshe allow his children to play games?

“Do you have a Facebook account?” asked one person, according to Xinhua. “May I add you as a friend?”

When asked how one might follow in his path to win a Nobel Peace Prize,the president joked: “I don’t think there’s a curriculum of study thatleads to the Nobel Peace Prize.”

About 500 students were allowed to attend the gathering, and it was agenerally welcoming crowd. Mr. Obama has already achieved a certaincelebrity among many Chinese students.

“My 20-year-old foster son in Wuhan told me that Obama is very popularamong his circle of college students,” said Dorothy Solinger, aprofessor and China scholar at the University of California, Irvine.

Everyday people are intrigued, too, and Obama-style hair cuts arereportedly becoming popular, and replicas of the president are bigdraws at the Madame Tussaud’s wax museums in both Shanghai and HongKong.

Chinese T-shirt vendors, perhaps the best barometer of contemporarytrends in China, are clearly aware of the fascination with the Americanpresident: “Oba Mao” shirts are on sale in the capital, featuring alikeness of Mr. Obama wearing a red-starred Chairman Mao cap.

Earlier Monday, at the Xijiao State Guest House, Mr. Obama had aworking lunch with Han Zheng, the mayor of Shanghai, and Yu Zhengsheng,the secretary of the city’s Communist Party.

David Barboza reported from Shanghai, and Mark McDonald from Hong Kong.