Chinese media hail "historic" Hu-Obama summit (News Feature)

By Bill Smith Jan 20, 2011, 12:55 GMT

Beijing - Chinese state media on Thursday hailed President Hu Jintao's 'historic' summit in Washington with US President Barack Obama.

China Central Television devoted its entire 30-minute evening news broadcast to Hu's visit, showing the Chinese president shaking hands with children before he and Obama gave speeches on the South Lawn of the White House.

'Open a new chapter in the Sino-US cooperative partnership,' the front-page headline of the Shanghai-based Liberation Daily said over two large photographs of Hu delivering his speech and shaking hands with Obama outside the White House.

Most newspapers featured the summit on their front pages while the official Xinhua news agency's main story carried the headline: 'A historic masterstroke of China-US diplomacy with global significance.'

'Hailed by some international relations experts as the real start of 2011, the historic visit is expected not only to steer the strategic China-US relationship forward into a bright future but also to shed new light on major international conflicts and disputes and garner a deeper global commitment to world peace and development,' the agency said.

It quoted Obama as saying Hu's visit could allow the two nations to 'lay the foundation for the next 30 years.'

Many newspapers and websites used a photograph from the semi-official China News Service that showed Hu hugging an Obama-like boy who had presented him with flowers as he disembarked from his plane at Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington.

NBA basketball star and China native Yao Ming commented on Hu's visit in a video interview on the website of the People's Daily, the ruling Communist Party's official newspaper.

'Chairman Hu's visit will have great influence and promote a focus on and understanding of China,' Yao Ming said in an interview apparently recorded in the United States before Hu's arrival.

Yao Ming is one of many Chinese celebrities who appeared in a 30-second television advertisement designed by the Chinese government to deliver a 'friendly message' to the US public during Hu's visit.

The state media reports did not mention the absence of Hu's wife, Liu Yongqing, from the state visit. Unconfirmed reports from Taiwan and Hong Kong media said Liu was ill.

Asked about Liu's absence Thursday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said, 'It is a normal arrangement under diplomatic protocol.'

Several bloggers noted the 'strong Oriental flavour' and 'Chinese red' of the dress worn by Obama's wife, Michelle, speculating that she might have deliberately chosen the colour to honour China at Wednesday's state dinner.

Other commentators focussed on the dozens of bilateral cooperation deals worth more than 45 billion dollars to the United States, including a Chinese government purchase of 200 Boeing planes over three years.

'China's boss goes shopping in the United States,' one commentator said.

But in a reflection of China's large trade surplus with the United States, China Central Television showed an apparently randomly interviewed US man in Washington who said, 'Everything we wear is made in China.'

Beijing-based international relations expert Shi Yinhong told the German Press Agency dpa that the United States 'gave face to China' by allowing Hu's state visit, the highest gesture bestowed upon a foreign leader, despite strong differences over trade and foreign policy.

'In such a tense situation, both parties realize that they have to improve the atmosphere, alleviate the tension and create conditions for cooperation,' Shi said.

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