Yesterday's visit by Chinese President Hu Jintao certainly will probably do little to distinguish us in the annals of diplomacy, to say the least (and steal from
Star Trek VI).
From Bush tugging on Hu's coat to lead him in the right direction like a small child, to Cheney taking a catnap during a press briefing, it was almost a comedy of errors. And should leave us all completely unsurprised that The Decider made absolutely no headway with China on issues concerning trade and Iran.
But, the heckler incident was the most interesting. It says a hell of a lot about Bush event security.
More on this, and photographic evidence, below...
The image of Falun Gong protestor Wang Wenyi has already become
infamous.
But this is NOT the first time Wang has been photographed protesting on behalf of Falun Gong. Nor is it the first time that a Chinese president has seen Wang Wenyi's face, protesting his policies. In this case, it was Jiang Zemin.
(Photo by photohjournalist Darrin Zammit Lupi. From his website.)
Yes, you could say that Jiang and Wang got up close and personal. This photo was taken in Malta, and has the following caption:
Chinese-American Falun Gong practitioner Wang Wenyi (C) is confronted by an angry President Jiang Zemin (R) of China after she slipped through his security cordon during an unscheduled walkabout in Mdina, Malta's ancient capital, on July 25, 2001.
So, what we have here is an American who has managed to break through Chinese security before, and was photographed doing it. Not only that, but Wang's confrontation was reported by the AP!!! And a copy of the story was proudly displayed on a Falun Gong website.
Yet, somehow, she managed to slip past our own security, onto the lawn of the White House? While many, even in our own media, were quick to condemn the protest as "shameful," why is no one condemning the fact that we did not provide better security for a visiting foreign leader?
To me, its pretty shocking. Especially considering this is the same administration whose own political operatives have been so effective at keeping out those that might heckle Bush at a public event, that they have even managed to identify and keep out people with a "No More Blood For Oil" bumpersticker on their car.
Can anybody really trust this administration with security issues if they can't even keep out a previously-identified protestor? Or is it that, as with leaks, there are Good Hecklers and Bad Hecklers???