Clinton hears delicate criticism
I'm not sure whether or not Hillary Clinton likes being reminded that she lost last year's presidential race. But this morning in Beijing, on the last day of Mrs Clinton's tour of Asia, one Chinese activist didn't mind raising the subject.
At a women's leadership forum held at the US Embassy, Mrs Clinton went round the room asking the 22 panellists about the obstacles facing women in this country (the event was open to the media, but we weren't allowed to film it.)
When it came to Xie Lihua, the founder and chairwoman of Rural Women, Ms Xie had a story from the 2008 campaign trail.
"I tried to memorise an English phrase my daughter taught me : 'I hope you win!' But when I got to see you [during the campaign] I forgot to say it. If I had said it, you probably would have won!"
Everyone in the room, including Mrs Clinton, laughed out loud.
There was more laughter a few minutes later.
"This is the first time we've met," said another panellist, "But a couple of years ago I went to the US and had my picture taken next to your waxwork. So it's fate that we should finally meet."
During the hour-long meeting there were also some more serious moments. Eighty-two-year-old Dr Gao Yaojie spoke about her lengthy campaign for the rights of Aids patients, during which she has been obstructed by the authorities.
"This is an important issue," Dr Gao told Mrs Clinton, "I am not afraid!"
There were also complaints about a lack of progress for women in China. Mrs Clinton asked whether or not girl babies were more respected than they were 10 years ago, when she was last in China. Several women in the audience shook their heads.
There was even some delicate criticism of China's political structure - one of the most sensitive subjects in this country.
"I think we need more women in our very high leadership in the government," one panellist said.
"Well, I certainly believe every government needs more women," Mrs Clinton replied with a smile.
While this forum was taking place, another group of women gathered near the old US Embassy in a completely different part of town. They hadn't been invited to any official events, but they wanted to catch Hillary Clinton's attention while she was in Beijing, so they decided to go the US Embassy. The trouble is - the Embassy moved to a new location last summer. The women had gone to the wrong place. Despite this, they decided to go ahead with their protest. They raised a banner with words printed in English :
"Dear Clinton, Secretary of State,
13 years ago, you in Beijing with emphasis on all the Government to respect the basic human rights of women and men obligations. You once said that respect for human rights means that "not only because the citizens of the peaceful expression of views and ideas, so citizens from their loved ones taken away while in custody, abuse them, denied their freedom and dignity." I love Bill Clinton Hillary. We are all witnesses of human rights in China!"
(The quote attributed to Mrs Clinton appears to be a slightly garbled retranslation from Chinese into English of a speech she gave in Beijing to the Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995.)
After about 10 minutes the police arrived. The women put down their banner and dispersed. Several of them were taken away by the police for questioning.
At about the same time, Hillary Clinton left the new US Embassy in her motorcade and was driven to the airport.
During her 42 hours in this country, Mrs Clinton met all of the Communist Party's main leaders, she went to church, visited a power plant, held talks with female activists, gave interviews and a webchat.
But she had very few spontaneous meetings with ordinary Chinese citizens. In the end, some of those trying to attract her attention to remind her of her own words had simply gone to the wrong place.
I’m 
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I think Mrs Clinton has achieved her mission of roping in China to help reslove the world's financial problems, the issues of climate change and the nuclear programme in North Korea. She has been very focused and restrained in every step taken in China during her visit. She has also pleased and won over the Chinese leaders with the use of the proverb diplomacy and not the overcoat diplomacy as mentioned in the previous article. Well done Mrs Clintion for your pragmatism and your determination. I believe with a positive Sino-Us ties, the two superpowers will lead the world out of the crisis facing the world.
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The protesters' demands are absolutely right.
But can they represent the ordinary Chinese citizens? I am not sure and I don't know how you can be so sure.
If someone threw a shoe to Hillary, would you still call him/her an ordinary Chinese citizen?
Also I am curious to know that how you managed to reach the protesters before the police...
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James, you are out of touch with the REAL ordinary Chinese, not our Secretary of the United State. Thanks.
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As a Chinese,you have few chances to make your voice be heard.We have been taught to respect to leaders of our government since a very young age.We have been taught to obey the Communist Party absolutely.We have been taught to be optimistic and not to make complaints even if we are treated unfairly.But never have we been taught to tell truth!
In China,you shouldn't talk to much about policies.The only thing you should say about a policy is :"Yes,It is great for me.The Communist Party is good(????)."even though it have deprieved all your rights of you.You shoule speak highly to your government even though it is full of corruption and scandal.
This government is sucks.But you can't still say a word ahout thus.The media is controlled by the state.There're a lot of cases in which a person was treated badly by the government just because he made some officials uncomfortabal!
As to the problem which is released by the article,I think it is not only suit for women's conditions,but suit for all aspects of our political lives.How I wish sometime my country could become a democratic country and every citizens have their basic human rights of politics.
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Oh I see. The definition of "ordinary Chinese" is in this way. One interesting thing is that each time there are some protests, James will know it in the first time. That is why you offer them a title of "ordinary Chinese"?
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If ordinary chinese women are like those protesters as you indicate in this article, I am sure at least there should have 10million women before the old American embassy, but it seems there are only dozens. What is the reason?
Like any country, the government cannot please everyone. Minority cannot represent majority. This is the basis of human right, right?
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it's rather strange for a foreign leader to go to its host country to seek voices of ordinary
citizen.
China has its own set of human rights but
it may differ from the western standard, and
perhaps this is the reason why western
leaders are so busybody minding other ppl
business than their own country, as if they're the one and only rule of human rights standard??
99.9% of Asian leaders when visiting Asian
hosts would not do that. it's outright rude, James
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Hillary Clinton seems to have forgotten that in 2004 Vice Premier Wu Yi of China was ranked by Forbes as the second most powerful women in the world while Hillary was lagging behind at 5th place. Ever since then until Wu Yi's retirement last year she always lead Hillary. I find it incredible that Hillary Clinton is lecturing about lack of progress for women in politics in China.
Many Chinese have not to forgotten the late wife of Mao, Jiang Qing, during the Cultural Revolution was arguebly the most powerful person in China in the mid 70s. Madame Mao predates any women political leader in the West and may have paved the way for the likes of Margaret Thatcher that it is possible have women as PM.
So Hillary Clinton now uses womens rights to attack China as an unfair society. If she is really that concerned about womens rights she should have devoted that concern when she visited Japan which has a reputation of being the most sexist country in the world. Obviously US policy is not born out of principle but purely out of interest.
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please ask ordinary men in China, please understand Mrs.Clition you are in the north of China, please come to the south of this country and you will see different pics. Women there is much more powerful than men. Who is the boss in any ordinary family in the south of China? apparently it's women! my mother controls any thing in my family and even my best friend, a boy he follows her mother's surname!
besides, if a boy without car and house, it's very tough for him to find a girl friend! that is really china!
someone argue women's human rights in China. I think it's totally nonsense and feel men are under strong press of women here! At the same time, i don't see women in any country even including those western developed countries have same status as in China!
Hi James, after i read your this report, i just feel you'r kiding me and kiding MEN IN CHINA!
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This is interesting, perhaps these people outside the old embassy would have been taken away even sooner if their banner were written in Chinese.
Dedicated CCP believers will tell you these women are actresses paid by the Americans to put on a show. "Ordinary" Chinese people would never do that and you should only be writing about happy "ordinary" Chinese people.
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a bunch of stupid police and bureaucratists!
if they protest peacefully, why don't give them the permission to protest! it's no big deal. dispersing protesters only gives some vicious media or reporters handles. besides, the PRC 's constitution stipulates that people have rights and freedom to protest.
I think our goverment should have confidence in ourself. people demonstrate because they have troubles and difficulties. if they apply legally, if they demonstrate peacefully. it's won't be a threat to the rule of the party. and it would not be an excuse as a card for the west to play when they deal with us any more.
last year, during the olympic games, we set aside three parks for protesters. it turned out that none demonstrations happened.
Did that mean there were no any problems at all? of course not. but the goverment didnot allow anyone to protest.
i think that has become a laughingstock for the international community.
if the goverment has any creative ideas, they should have let people demonstrate then. it could be a great chance to show the world that we are an open and free country. However, we missed it.
and it's now or never.
besides do you think they really care about whether what Chinese people are living a good life or dying? they just care about themselves, they just care about their voters. did any goverment criticized the eight countries who invaded Beijing hundred years ago? think about it my fellowmen.
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You said it yourself... Mrs Clinton was in China for 42 hours and she had dozens of officials to meet to discuss important things. Who are these "ordinary" Chinese according to your definition. The women at the forum were not "ordinary" enough. You can hardly expect the Chinese government to cart in truckloads of farmers from Gansu to meet Mrs Clinton. Perhaps then you would be happy that she met "ordinary" Chinese.
Try to be more balanced in your reporting; that is your responsibility. Why don't you try to present one positive thing thats happening in China instead of all the negatives.
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If Hillary Clinton cares so much about womens' rights in China and around the world, why is she so silent on the treatment on women in Saudi Arabia?
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In a part of the Guangdong Pronvince in China, girls are urged to find a boyfriend when they are young. When they become 'older', they can hardly get married. Some girls live with their boyfriend (and parents) before marriage.
Why I know? Because I have some relatives there. I can't tell whether it's a kind of 'freedom' or discrimination. I can't tell whether other parts of the China exists such traditions, too.
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As I predicted previously, the sole purpose of Hillary's trip is to ASK MONEY. In exchange, she just green-lights on human rights abuses by the CCP. So both are happy. They got what they wanted.
I feel ashamed for both govenments! Shame on you, Clinton and Obama!
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"After about 10 minutes the police arrived. The women put down their banner and dispersed. Several of them were taken away by the police for questioning. "
-These women are incredibly brave and deserve our greatest respect. I really hope they are returned safely to their families.
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@16
IN NORTH CHINA women control families' finance. Husbands come home hand over every cents of their income and then get pocket money from their wifes. Women manage finance better than men. So , please appreciate women's "control" at home. My husband's sister also takes her mother's surname.
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This is a joke. Women in China enjoy much more rights and recognition than US and Europe. For those people that do not know china, please find out more first and don't ranting just because you saw those special interst group from Falungong or tibet.
And those protester are normally planted just like those in UK last year. They are paid for.
I would not say China is perfect, or on par with US when it comes to human rights for own citizen. However, they are better than a lot of countries that US support. And they are better than US when it comes to treating people from other countries. They do not go around the world kidnapping people to be tortured.
As for brainwashed chinese citizen. First I am not from China and I see the same brainwashing technique in western media. Just that Chinese know their media is bias while westeners do not know their's is bias too.
I am beginning to see a pattern in this blog. Writng everything with tinted glass to generate viewership. You may not feel China is that bad, but you have to do it, to feed the western brainwashed crowd.
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"21. At 12:27pm on 23 Feb 2009, beijing_2008 wrote:
If Hillary Clinton cares so much about womens' rights in China and around the world, why is she so silent on the treatment on women in Saudi Arabia?"
Interesting argument. Of course China is heaven when you compare it to places like Zimbabwe? Just that women have more rights in China than in Saudi Arabia doesn't mean it's wrong for Clinton to care about women rights in China.
So you are dismissing someone's efforts and views as worthless just because you believe she has an agenda. You can't deny she has done much to women's rights.
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It seems to me some people here think only happy and harmonious people are qualified as "ordinary" Chinese people and our news should consist of happy ordinary people enjoying their wonderful harmonious society.
So, we should perhaps forget the disadvantaged "minorities" and focus on the "majority" happy ones. Perhaps the Shanxi coalworkers are again not ordinary Chinese people? James don't you try to interview those Shanxi coalworkers who managed to escape, as they are not ordinary Chinese people and therefore not newsworthy.
I've never seen people in Britain or the US so desparate to meet a foreign (Chinese?) leader to voice their opinions on home issues. What's going wrong here?
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It's very strange that this group of "ordinary" Chinese citizens didn't know the location of the new US embassy but a BBC reporter knew beforehand where they were going to protest!!!
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Unlike Taiwan, China is not a subordinate of US. The behavior of those people "...so desparate to meet a foreign leader to voice their opinions on home issues." (quoted from comment#30)
is very inappropriate at best. In fact, it should be deemed illegal and be dealt with as such.
As an ethnic Chinese, I feel 'belittled' by it. The fact that the Chinese government allowed that to happen is unbelievable. It tells me that the government is so laughably incompetent. To me, China is not a 'power', let alone 'superpower'. And, I don't see it become any 'power' any time soon.
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The "ordinary" overseas 2nd class Chinese in western countries should learn from the "ordinary" Chinese in China and be "desparate to meet a foreign leader to voice their opinions on home issues."
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James,
I am glad that Hillary Clinton (Secretary of State for the United States) was able to hear the perspective in the form of delicate criticize...
~Dennis Junior~
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