Obama, in China, Calls for Restraint in Handling Hong Kong Protests
BEIJING – President Barack Obama appealed on Monday for official restraint in dealing with the pro-democracy demonstrations in Hong Kong, saying that while the United States did not necessarily agree with China about the dispute, it did not want to see the tensions in the city erupt into violence.
Obama’s carefully calibrated remarks were his first on the Hong Kong protests since arriving in Beijing earlier in the day. “Obviously, the situation between China and Hong Kong is historically complicated and is in the process of transition,” Obama said.
“Our primary message has been to make sure violence is avoided,” the president said, adding, “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.”
Obama’s comments came during a meeting with Prime Minister Tony Abbott of Australia at an economic summit meeting in Beijing. The remarks left no doubt that the president did not want the protests in Hong Kong to disrupt a wide-ranging U.S. agenda with China.
The president also put in a pitch for his ambitious trade deal, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, meeting with the leaders of other countries involved in the negotiations. Efforts to forge a deal have made progress recently, and the Republican takeover of Congress has buoyed hopes that Obama might be able to win ratification of a trade treaty more easily.
“Today is an opportunity, at the political level, for us to break some remaining logjams,” the president said to reporters at the meeting, held at the U.S. Embassy.
Still, there was no evidence, and he made no suggestion, that the talks were close to a breakthrough, as some U.S. officials have done in the past. Obama noted that he and other leaders would have to build domestic support for a deal, saying that “we also have to make sure all of our people back home understand the benefits for them.”
Touching down on Monday morning under skies that were a government-mandated blue – factories were idled and vehicles ordered off the road to minimize smog – Obama plunged into a hectic schedule that mixed the solemn rituals of a state visit with the deal-making of an economic summit meeting.
The centerpiece of the visit will be Obama’s session with President Xi Jinping in the Great Hall of the People on Wednesday, where he will encounter a Chinese leader who has moved boldly to reinforce the primacy of the Communist Party.