Chinese Snub Obama in Copenhagen

not once but twice in the same day.

Obama must have pissed off Chinese very badly. I don't think this is a typical Chinese antic, for, after all, they are face- and protocol-conscious East Asians. The president had better hope Chinese will not stop buying Treasuries.

China's delaying tactics threaten climate deal
(Chris Green, 12/18/09 The Independent)

"China is attempting to scupper chances of a comprehenive agreement at the Copenhagen climate summit by using delaying tactics, sources inside the negotiations have told The Independent.

"At an emergency meeting convened at the Bella Center this morning, Barack Obama and Gordon Brown assembled 26 heads of state in an attempt to revive a deal. But China's Premier Wen Jiabao did not attend and was replaced by vice foreign minister He Yafei.

"This afternoon, the US president and his secretary of state Hillary Clinton called another meeting with China, but were snubbed again when only three low-level Chinese delegates arrived."

[Not even the foreign minister himself. Ouch.]

"According to a high level source, the US president clearly regarded Premier Wen’s absence as a major diplomatic insult, and snapped: “It would be nice to negotiate with somebody who can make political decisions.”

It looks like the U.S. president has made things worse by going to Copenhagen. His speech had a frigid reception, leaving Venezuela's Hugo Chavez to continue to smell "sulpher". Bullying Chinese clearly backfired and now the Chinese are pissed, and he is on the way back to Washington D.C. before the final vote, because of blizzard in D.C..

Copenhagen seems to have a bad juju for Obama. In retrospect, his trip to Copenhagen for Chicago's Olympic bid may have been a dry-run for the latest snub.

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