Michelle Obama 'snubs' China's first lady

[lostinblue 1,989]

Michelle Obama 'snubs' China's first lady China's hopes that their first lady would dazzle the American public during this week’s summit between her husband, Xi Jinping, and Barack Obama have been dashed after it was announced that Michelle Obama would not attend.

By Tom Phillips, Shanghai

9:11AM BST 05 Jun 2013

Communist Party bosses had seen the June 7-8 Sunnylands summit as a golden opportunity to deploy Peng Liyuan’s much-vaunted charms on the world stage in a bid to spin a more favourable image of China’s leaders.

But on Tuesday Mrs Obama’s office told the New York Times the first lady would remain in Washington with her daughters who are coming to the end of their academic year.

Mrs Obama’s absence is likely to limit her Chinese counterpart’s role at the two-day California meeting, which begins on Friday, and may be interpreted as a snub, analysts said.

Zhang Ming, a political scientist from China’s Renmin University, predicted Mrs Obama’s absence would “not go down very well” in Beijing.

“First lady diplomacy is also very important and the US side has failed to cooperate,” he said. “According to normal diplomatic etiquette this is very strange. It shouldn’t be like this.”

Cheng Li, an expert in Chinese politics from Washington’s Brookings Institution, told the New York Times the Chinese would “readily” accept Mrs Obama’s family commitments but said her decision “certainly needs some explanation.” The Chinese were “extremely sensitive”, Prof Cheng added.

News of Mrs Obama’s decision had not yet reached most Chinese on Wednesday but the general public is likely to be disappointed.

Ms Peng, an elegant and much-loved PLA singer, has taken centre-stage during president Xi’s ongoing tour of Latin America and the Caribbean, exchanging hi-fives with children and playing the steel drums in Trinidad and Tobago.

"First lady turns on the charm, impresses hosts,” the state-run China Daily reported on Tuesday, noting that the 50-year-old soprano had made an impact “not just with her music, but also her kindness and language capability.”

Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post compiled an online photo gallery of the first lady’s travels under the headline: “Peng Liyuan is the star of the show on Pan American tour.”

Mrs Obama’s absence means such informal photo opportunities are now unlikely to be repeated in the United States, however.

“Maybe Michelle [Obama] doesn’t like Xi Jinping - or maybe she is just really busy,” Prof Zhang speculated. “But being busy shouldn’t be an excuse for missing an event like this.”

Speaking before Mrs Obama's absence had been announced, Shi Yinhong, a Renmin University international relations expert, played down the first ladies' importance at the summit.

“Michelle Obama and Peng Liyuan are both very charming and both have a positive image. But there is no such thing as diplomacy by first ladies. Diplomacy is conducted by presidents."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/michelle-obama/10100017/Michelle-Obama-snubs-Chinas-first-lady.html

[JohnR! 5,495]

I love the Telegraph and their brand of protojournalism and their relentless obsession with our country.

It goes without saying that if Michelle were to attend the event, the Telegraph would headline it with: Michelle Obama abandons daughters, 'sucks up' to China's first lady.

[Teddy B 17,252]

[Darnell 8,479]

PLA singing star?

People's Liberation Army?

Well, ya gotta have a captive audience, I suppose.

-600 points for not performing BeiJing Opera anytime, anywhere.

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back to Mrs. Obama - a snub? really? na - that's just silly ####### 'created' by the government press agents (an oxymoronic label to begin with) in China who hide under other labels... .

what's gonna happen? hmmmm Hey ! Peng got snubbed ! Lets buy up another USA Company and push out 18 thousand more cargo containers this week