News > Politics > How To Piss Off and Insult an Asian Dude

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FRIDAY APRIL 21 2006 1:00 PM

How To Piss Off and Insult an Asian Dude

Submitted by FearTheReaper

Edited by Rahodeb

Really, really good day for the White House yesterday. The Chinese President, Hu Jintao, stopped by for a visit. It was considered a very important trip as the US and China are having some serious trade disagreements.

And this is how the White House handled it.

China wanted a formal state visit such as Mr Jiang got, but the Administration refused, calling it an "official" visit instead. Mr Bush acquiesced to the 21-gun salute but insisted on a luncheon instead of a formal dinner, in the East Room instead of the State Dining Room. Even the visiting country's flags were missing from the lampposts near the White House.

When Bush visited China recently he received a state visit and dinner. But this is a one way street.

No can do the formal state thing, sorry Honcho. Slap in the face number one. How about we do lunch stead o dinner? Huh? Slap in the face number two. Couldnt find yer flag, its red or somethin, right? Slap in the face number three.

Those were the decisions made BEFORE he arrived. Now for the exciting, Day of Face Slaps. Let us start with the press conference, where our Vice President took a little nappy.

Slap in the face number four. And it goes on and on...

The visit began with a slight when the official announcer said the band would play the "national anthem of the Republic of China" - the official name of Taiwan. It continued when the Vice-President, Dick Cheney, donned sunglasses for the ceremony, and again when Mr Hu, trying to leave the stage via the wrong staircase, was yanked back by his jacket. Mr Hu looked down at his sleeve to see the President of the United States tugging at it as if redirecting an errant child.

Oh, shit, that was your enemies name, not yours, right? Slap in the face number five. Sorry about Dick and the glasses, hes beat. Slap in the face number six. Hey, hey, dont go that way, stupid! Slap in the face number seven.

We need a BIG FINISH, come on, what can top that...

The White House had given press credentials to a Falun Gong activist who five years ago heckled Mr Hu's predecessor, Jiang Zemin, in Malta. Sure enough, 90 seconds into Mr Hu's speech on the South Lawn, the woman started shrieking "President Hu, your days are numbered!" and "President Bush, stop him from killing!"

Mr Bush and Mr Hu looked up, stunned. It took so long to silence her - a full three minutes - that Bush aides began to wonder if the Secret Service's strategy was to let her scream herself hoarse.

Then, why not get all pissy...

The meeting in the Oval Office brought more of the same. In front of the cameras, Bush thanked Hu for his "frankness" -- diplomatic code for disagreement -- and Hu stood expressionless. The two unexpectedly agreed to take questions from reporters, but Bush grew impatient as Hu gave a long answer about trade, made all the longer by the translation. Bush at one point tapped his foot on the ground. "It was a very comprehensive answer," he observed when Hu finished.

Its just one day but it really sums up this Presidency.

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Comments

Uncle_Screwtape

Los Angeles, CA

February 2004

APR 21, 2006 08:31 PM

BurningKrome said:

Idjiit said:

FearTheReaper said:

In many ways, the most important thing for the visit of the president of China to the United States is protocol," said Michael Green, who stepped down in December as head of Asian affairs for the National Security Council in the Bush administration.
Green helped prepare for the postponed September visit, though not the coming trip.
He estimated that 80 percent of the negotiations in advance of a Chinese leadership trip were about protocol, largely because of Chinese concerns over their domestic television audience.
"The Chinese public, especially out in the provinces, needs and wants to see their leader being shown the fullest respect," said Green, who now teaches international relations at Georgetown University.
Chinese advance teams are meticulously prepared when negotiations commence. Lieberthal said Chinese diplomats kept detailed records on which leader received what during which visit - how many guns saluted a certain leader, what kind of meal was served at the White House, which U.S. official served as the official greeter at the airport.
Each trip must outdo the last.

I assume a "tug on the jacket" would not go over well. But tell me, why did you decide to focus on just one aspect of what went wrong, when clearly the emphasis of the article was about the MANY things that went wrong?

Link

Right, you assumed. We've all heard the stories of protocol and know the historic insensitivities of meetings past. The point is that you're making it sound like a capital offense when it may not be that big of a deal when it comes down to it. I noticed that you didn't actually answer my pointed question about what you think the right protocol would be. For all you know Bush may have averted a real disaster by bringing him back - perhaps the protocol for a Chinese leader getting lost on a stage is to commit suicide for such a national embarassment.

And I'm picking on this one thing because I think it's ridiculous, and I'm sick of people analyzing every single fucking thing dickwad Bush does. He's a douchebag. He's a liar. He's a dumbass. We all know it (well, most of us). But these acrid, vehement and incessant jabs at him are just getting old. I know it's your job and all, so carry on, but picking on Bush for tugging on someone's coat seems slightly petty.

Actually, I think the key to pointing out this faux pas is it is simply indicative of how poorly Bush thinks on his feetor perhaps how unconcerned he may have been with the appearance of the dignitary.

A more appropriate solution would have been to immediately engage the Chinese leader with a quick off mike conversation, thus allowing the President to do the Lets walk off stage together while talking thing...easily possible even with a translator.

Regardless, the minimum appropriate response would have been for President Bush to walk off stage down the same incorrect staircasethus saving face for Hu Jintao. I mean, anyone who has ever held a cocktail party knows this. When the president doesntit does not bode well.

oh, come on. Who'd ever believe Bush would be stupid enough to do something like walking down a wrong staircase?

theseeman

Asheville, NC

December 2002

APR 21, 2006 08:32 PM

Moonrabbit said:

theseeman said:
Fuck the Chinese Goverment. And fuck Stalinists.

Wake up. Fuck all governments. Really now. Name one good governement in office right now.

And Rampage. What isn't made in China? North america is not self sufficient, at all.

Can the people of America not initiate impeechment? If not. then everybody should put on Guy Fawkes masks and black cloaks then charge the whitehouse.
Or can we come up with a more american figure to dress up as?

[Edited on Apr 21, 2006 5:54PM]

Some governments are better than others. Our branches of government are drooping because they don't get enough fresh water from the roots aka votes/participation. And so we get the government we deserve.

All you have to do to say Bush should be impeach is quote the founding fathers. Convenient his first name is George. And that 2008 is getting closer everyday.

Aya

SUICIDEGIRL

Alberta, Canada

APR 21, 2006 09:07 PM

FreakPirate said:

FearTheReaper said:

Agreed. If everyone thought the same thing the world would be really, really boring.

And likely we'd all be doomed as well.

The world doesn't get by on your country's well being alone, whether you want to believe that or not. It might be prudent to pull your head out of the sand once in a while and show some concern for people who have it a lot worse than you.

While I recognise there are serious global problems (particularly having studied a great many of them) there HAS to be something said about one's own backyard and such.

Creating change in one's own community is the most effective way to change the world.

It's easy to have an opinion about, say Tibet. It's almost impossible to do anything about it. I can have an opinion about domestic violence (which is a vast problem all over the world) and there are things I can do about it in my own back yard.

The world may not get by on how my own country, province or community is, but the world can be better for my work in it.

FreakPirate

Canada

November 2002

APR 21, 2006 09:40 PM

Aya said:

While I recognise there are serious global problems (particularly having studied a great many of them) there HAS to be something said about one's own backyard and such.

Creating change in one's own community is the most effective way to change the world.

It's easy to have an opinion about, say Tibet. It's almost impossible to do anything about it. I can have an opinion about domestic violence (which is a vast problem all over the world) and there are things I can do about it in my own back yard.

The world may not get by on how my own country, province or community is, but the world can be better for my work in it.

Oh I fully agree that you can't do everything about every problem on earth.

But reading this guy's posts suggests to me that he honestly doesn't even care.

There's "I'd like to help but I can't" and then there's "well... tough shit, I've got my own problems".

Yuriel

I'm lost

January 2004

APR 21, 2006 10:07 PM

I wonder if FreakPirate has seen the title to this newswire though.

Seriously we have dipshits who are ignorant in matters of culture or diplomacy, or even trade and sensible economic exchanges I swear.

Urgh.

smithers_jones

I'm lost

November 2003

APR 21, 2006 10:39 PM

I think the brain trust at the Bush Administration stumbled onto something here: substitute empty symbolic gestures of disrespect that appeal the president's domestic base in lieu of a coherent policy on China. It serves no rational policy objective, but hey, it will play well on Fox News and Rush will love it.

Attack_Macaque

Mesquite, TX

September 2004

APR 22, 2006 01:52 AM

FearTheReaper said:

UpTight said:
here's a few ideas

instead of moaning about how the poor fucking communist leader had to do without the lavish trimmings of a full state visit, howabout moaning about the rank poverty and lack of workers rights in China?

instead of moaning about some announcer referring to the official title of Taiwan, howabout moaning about China's menacing aspirations to invade Taiwan.

Instead of moaning about how a falun gong protestor got a press card, howabout moaning about the fact that those culties get tortured and murdered by the ChiComs?

oops - my mistake - no "Bash Bush" angle in criticising the ChiComs

Honestly, I'm an American, so that is where my battle is. China's government does not represent me and the falun gong battle is not my fight. I am not concerned with the rank poverty and lack of workers rights in China because ours are eroding here. I live here. I have no position in the Taiwan/China battle over sovereignty.

And this mindset, in a nutshell, is why we on the left keep getting our asses handed to us by the right wing on a regular basis - because far too many people who call themselves liberals have abandoned the core principles of liberalism simply because they're too self-absorbed to care about anything that doesn't directly affect them. Whatever happened to "An injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere"?