What should Obama say to Hu Jintao? (#dearhu)
President Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao in Beijing, Jan. 18, 2010. (Ng Han Guan/AP)
As Washington gussied itself up for the big state dinner between China and the United States on Wednesday, the main question on everyone's mind is what will presidents Obama and Hu Jintao talk about during their private working dinner Tuesday night. Obama has made clear that he will be discussing China's human rights record.
Will he be talking about the crackdown on the minority Uighur population? Will he speak about the woman jailed for tweeting? Will he talk about the treatment of Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo?
What should Obama and Hu talk about? What would you say to the Chinese president?
Tweet Let us know what human rights issues Obama should bring up in his conversation with Hu by using the hashtag #dearhu, or writing in the comments. Will post some readers' thoughts back here soon.
UPDATE: We got some great replies with questions and comments for Chinese President Hu Jintao. Some questions were focused on the economy, others on China's record on human rights. Some were just observations and some were straight-up funny.
@washingtonpost Is it realistic to expect Chinese growth to remain so high? What will you do if the economy slows?
@washingtonpost Obama to Hu Jintao: Hello & welcome, how was your fight? / Hu Jintao to Obama: Fine, thank you for asking #DearHu
@washingtonpost #DearHu Be humble! There have been low cost countries before you and there will be low cost countries after you.
What socioeconomic benefits does China reap by limiting civil liberties? #DearHu
@washingtonpost Stop buying all of our bonds, and stop over-valuing your currency. #DearHu
#DearHu If he doesn't call when he says he will, should I keep him around or kick him to the curb? (h/t @olsonchr )
#DearHu How can you contribute to the international leaders boys club btwn Obama, Berluscoi and Sarkozy? Supply Baijiu at next poker game?
@washingtonpost I would ask him what he is doing to speed up International Adoptions from China. My wife and I waited 4 years! #DearHu
@washingtonpost #DearHu, how much of your own financial system is funneling fiat? How deeply will you invest in the EU?
#dearhu I have two words for you regarding US debt: forgive and forget
By
Melissa Bell
| January 18, 2011; 11:59 AM ET
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Will he allow Judaism to be recognized as an "official" religion in China, as Islam and Christianity are? And will he lessen the amount of press censorship so that professors and students can read sites like Washingtonpost.com or NewYorkTimes.com without restrictions?
Posted by: DevorahLeah1 | January 18, 2011 2:29 PM | Report abuse
America lecturing China on Human Rights? An irony indeed! America has attacked two nations, one on completely false grounds. Every person it kills in that country, it kills on false grounds. Any people who are attacked without justification should have the right to defend themselves. And the Iraqis were attacked when not a single Iraqi had taken part in any attacks against us. Human Rights? In Afghanistan, thousands of civilians have been killed by US bombs- including those shopping, praying at the mosque, and yes even celebrating weddings. In Pakistan, drone attacks kill civilians everyday. We have dones of CIA blacksites used to torture Arabs and Muslims. After 9/11, we deported hundreds of muslims and imprisoned a similar amount. We run notorious prisons where we include children AND women in torture programs. YES CHILDREN, Omar Khadr from Canada, the brixton six who were released and the list goes on.
Posted by: theredpill | January 18, 2011 3:18 PM | Report abuse
China is close buddies with Pakistan (another quasi rogue regime and pain in the civilized world's neck, ala North Korea).China's prodding and persuasion of Pakistan to clean out the terrorist safe havens in North Waziristan might go a long way. A long shot though given China's interest in Afghan's half a trillion dollar worth copper mine; they would much rather have us mired in a endless lightless tunnel of the pit hole called Afghanistan.
Posted by: rubicos55 | January 18, 2011 5:24 PM | Report abuse
Since a lot of Americans are having chinese words tatooed on their body and Obama's name sounds Chinese, it might be interesting for him to ask president Hu whether it is appropriate to change his name to Oba Mao even though he is no where near the greatness of Chairman Mao.
Posted by: Maersk | January 18, 2011 10:48 PM | Report abuse
What would I say? probably, don't forget, one from column A and two from column B and a little more tea please.
Posted by: skr3211 | January 19, 2011 7:58 AM | Report abuse
Dear Hu - China and the United States of America should be like brothers who are very close. We should compete with each other in a friendly way. We should also recognize that one of us is better at some things while the other is better at other things. We should celebrate each other's successes and accept our own shortcomings. However, we must cooperate to obtain those things that we both want, such as good health for ourselves and our planet (and stability on the Korean peninsula!) We must always remind ourselves that our "Mother" Earth doesn't have a favorite, and it's up to us to make her proud of both of us!
Posted by: sunbirdwoman | January 20, 2011 11:51 AM | Report abuse
























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