This is a story about a presidential candidate who gave a nice speech that didn't really do anything. A story about a candidate who would welcome an acknowledged butcher to the White House with full military honors. A story about a candidate who talked the talk, but didn't walk the walk.
It's a story, of course, about Hillary Clinton.
One of the hallmarks of Clinton's campaign is her time as First Lady, and, when pressed for actual results, a speech that she gave in Beijing in 1995. Indeed, her campaign site section on women cites that very speech to start off the discussion.
Hillary's historic statement at the United Nations Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995 that "women's rights are human rights" still echoes worldwide.
And Mark Penn, when asked late last month, about whether Hillary really had any experience to back up her Rovian telephone ad:
Mark Penn pointed me to Clinton's 1995 speech in Beijing, in which she declared that women's rights were human rights.
Let's be clear, her speech was very nice. Particularly in a country that had a tradition of female infanticide, a country that forced abortions and sterilazations on women, a country with a long tradition of misogyny.
But, even as she spoke them, she knew she wasn't actually solving any problems. She wasn't even specifically addressing China. From the NYT coverage of that speech in 1995:
A senior Administration official traveling with Mrs. Clinton was at pains after the address to explain that it did not mark a return to a more vocal confrontation with China over its poor human rights record. In recent months, Washington has sought to tone down its public remarks on human rights abuses in favor of a more private dialogue that had few results.
"There is nothing in her speech that in any way deviates from our approach on China," the official said, "or on our desire to get the relationship stabilized and to get some momentum going. This is a United Nations conference and she was speaking out on a global problem."
In other words, "we're not actually criticizing China." "We're not actually confronting Beijing." "We don't want to, you know, confront anyone."
Better still, Hillary's claim that the speech was heard in China, yeah, not so much...
Ordinary Chinese citizens did not see or hear Mrs. Clinton's speech, which was blacked out on official radio and television. There are 5,000 Chinese delegates, all selected by the Communist Party and all with strong ties to the party or the Government. Others were restricted from even coming near the conference site. Their news was limited to a carefully scripted menu, featuring a blizzard of enthusiastic propaganda on the enormous progress of Chinese women under the party's guidance.
Hmm, it's almost like, well, explain it for me, Hillary:
Hillary Clinton drew a sharp contrast with her rival from Illinois, saying she would not agree in advance to such meetings because "I don't want to be used for propaganda purposes."
Oops.
Of course, several years after that speech, China claimed that it had taken to heart the speeches given in Beijing a few years earlier. The reality? Not so much:
A women's rights report released by China drew criticism Tuesday from human rights groups, who said it lacked information on the extent of discrimination against women there.
While Beijing has done a lot on paper to improve the rights of women, new laws designed to protect those rights have no new enforcement mechanisms, said Sophia Woodman, research director of Human Rights in China.
Minority groups, like Tibetans, often bear the brunt of the violence against women in China, with forced sterilizations, abortions, along with the rape and sexual torture of nuns engaged in non-violent protest.
How would we describe this, Hillary?
Right! Words are not action.
What is action? Well, let's see.
Clinton White House in 1996, inviting one of the butchers of Tiananmen to the White House, with full military honors.
The defense minister's 10-day tour of the United States was a major step in the administration's effort to improve tense relations between the U.S. and China. Minister Chi Hao Tian began his trip in Washington, where he met privately with President Clinton at the White House. The general was then accorded full military honors at the Pentagon...
Sino-U.S. relations have been strained since 1989, when the Chinese government suppressed pro-democracy demonstrations in Tiananmen Square. At the time, General Chi was the Chinese army's chief of staff, and in that capacity ordered the military crackdown...
Min. Chi (speaking through interpreter) I can tell you in a responsible and serious manner that at that time not a single person lost his life in Tiananmen Square.
I see, OK, that's interesting action. Meeting with dictators, with butchers, with purveyors of lies.
What else we got?
Right, the Clinton visit to China in 1998, at the height of the debate over Permanent Normalized Trading Relations (PNTR).
Many politicians and human rights activists are calling on Clinton to cancel his trip, saying that the U.S. policy of "constructive engagement" with China gives Beijing no incentive to change its alleged human rights abuses.
To date, the U.S. House of Representatives has passed eight bills banning Chinese products allegedly made by slave or convict labor, and barring U.S. travel by Chinese officials who engage in religious persecution or forced abortions. Senate action on the measures is pending.
The White House and Congress still face the battle of Clinton's proposal to extend China's most-favored nation trade status. Resolutions have been introduced to deny the extension, but the extension is expected to be granted.
So what was the result of the trip?
Clinton's nine-day trip through China produced no breakthroughs, but his debate with Jiang and his folksy public relations made them both look good.
And then again, in 2002, getting paid $300,000 to give a speech to a secretive Beijing-run group in Australia that actively seeks to undermine support for Taiwan and democracy groups inside China. And that's only what we know about from tax documents the Clintons have seen fit to release.
Now - let me be clear here. Words ARE important. Words DO mean things. But it's absolutely true that one's actions matter. And the simple fact is that, in the 1990s, the Clintons absolutely failed in every way to find a way to deal with China in a meaningful way. They allowed themselves to be used for propaganda purposes, they allowed China to grow without paying any heed to human rights abuses, labor abuses, or the continuing ongoing violence against women. If she wants to take credit for this speech, which, again, was a nice one, she needs to own up to the fact that her words were not acted upon, and a nation she supposedly stood up to was never actually confronted.
As President Kennedy said: we should never negotiate out of fear, but we should never fear to negotiate. The key word is "negotiate".
The Clintons never negotiated with China. They gave. They gave empty speeches that weren't heard in China, they gave in with trade deals that didn't address any labor or environmental issues, and, when the Presidency was over, they gave a speech and got paid. Not the kind of negotiation America needs.
Hillary Clinton's foreign policy record has never been vetted, and the press continues to refuse to address the failure of the Clinton White House to deal responsibly with China.
Let's be honest. In the Clinton White House, if the phone rings at 3 AM, it's probably an invitation to a cocktail party in Beijing.
© Kos Media, LLC
Site content may be used for any purpose without
explicit permission unless otherwise specified.
Privacy Policy
Powered by Scoop.
Permalink | 10 comments