Tuesday, December 9, 2008. Today’s meetings have focused on some of the sensitive areas of U.S.-China relations. Our first meeting of the day was at the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS). We met with the vice president, who made the news recently when he was attacked during a diplomatic trip to Taiwan.
Taiwan appears to be the most important issue to the Chinese government when it comes to interaction with other countries, including the U.S. The issue has been discussed at length during virtually every meeting we have attended. The officials we have met with have made it clear that “reunification” with Taiwan is non-negotiable.
Side note – my intent was to include links throughout my posts for further information on these topics. I’m finding, however, that I have run into the Great Firewall of China. I don’t have access to the same Google searches and web sites that I would in the U.S. Because of this snag, I will provide links when I can, but if the info I get is limited or not objective, I will forgo the link and leave it to you to conduct your own background research.
We had a break after the ARATS meeting, so we took a quick tour of the Beijing City Planning Museum. We caught a fun 3-D movie about the history of the city.
There was also a really cool model of the entire city. It was incredible in its size and detail. Our Chinese host was even able to point to his apartment building with a laser pointer – in a city of over 15 million people!
After a quick lunch we met with the Executive Vice Minister at the Department of United Front Affairs. This division of the Communist Party of China is charged with the unity of all provinces, ethnic groups, religious sects, business, etc. The government official meeting with us has an expertise in Tibet. During our Q & A, we asked for his perspective on the Tibet issue. He replied with an emphatic “There is no Tibet issue.” It was a very interesting meeting.
Our last meeting of the day was at the Great Hall of the People, the home of the National People’s Congress (NPC).
We met with the vice chair of the foreign affairs committee. He is also the former ambassador to Canada and the U.K. It was an extremely informative meeting. I learned that the NPC has 2,597 members. I can’t even fathom the chaos of one huge legislative chamber with that many lawmakers trying to get something done.
After our meeting we took a quick walk to Tiananmen Square.
It was massive and crammed with people, even on a cold, dark night.
Our dinner was at a restaurant famous for Peking Duck. I’m not a meat eater, but the delegation seemed thrilled with the entire meal.
After dinner we went to a karaoke bar with members of the All China Youth Federation. The singing was AWFUL (think Richard Marx and Celine Dione), but we had a blast.
Posts
0 comments:
Post a Comment