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BEIJING In six hours of meetings, at two dinners, and during a 30-minute news conference in which President Hu Jintao didn't allow questions, President Barack Obama was confronted, on his first visit, with a fast-rising China more willing to say no to the U.S.
On topics such as Iran (Hu didn't publicly discuss the possibility of sanctions), China's currency (he made no nod toward changing its value) and human rights (a joint statement acknowledged that the two countries "have differences"), China held firm against most U.S. demands.
With China's micro-management of Obama's appearances, the trip did more to showcase China's ability to push back against pressure than it did to advance Obama's agenda, analysts said.
"China effectively stage-managed President Obama's public appearances, got him to make statements endorsing Chinese positions of political importance to them and effectively squelched discussions of contentious issues such as human rights and China's currency policy," said Eswar Prasad, a China specialist at Cornell University. "In a masterstroke, they shifted the public discussion from the global risks posed by Chinese currency policy to the dangers of loose monetary policy and protectionist tendencies in the U.S."
White House officials said they got what they came for - the beginning of a needed give-and-take with a surging economic giant. With a civilization as ancient as China's, they argued, it would be counterproductive - and reminiscent of President George W. Bush's style - for Obama to confront Beijing with loud chest-beating that might alienate the Chinese. Obama, the officials insisted, had made his points during private meetings and one-on-one sessions.
"I do not expect, and I can speak authoritatively for the president on this, that we thought the waters would part and everything would change over the course of our almost 21/2-day trip to China," said White House spokesman Robert Gibbs. "We understand there's a lot of work to do and that we'll continue to work hard at making more progress."
Several China experts noted that Obama was not leaving Beijing empty-handed. The two countries put out a five-point joint statement pledging to work together on a variety of issues. The statement calls for regular exchanges between Obama and Hu, and asks that each side pay more attention to the strategic concerns of the other. The statement also pledges that they will work as partners on economic issues, Iran and climate change.
But despite a conciliatory tone that began weeks ago when Obama declined to meet the Dalai Lama before visiting China to avoid offending China's leaders, it remains unclear whether Obama made progress on the most pressing policy matters on the American agenda.
There are many reasons the White House may have heeded China's desire for a visit free of the polemics that often accompany meetings between leaders of the two countries. Obama's foreign policy is rooted in recasting the U.S. as a thoughtful listener to friends and rivals alike.
"No we haven't made China a democracy in three days - maybe if we pounded our chest a lot that would work," Gibbs said in an e-mail message Tuesday. "But it hasn't in the last 16 years."
Kenneth Lieberthal, a Brookings Institution scholar who oversaw China issues in Clinton's White House, agreed. "The United States actually has enormous influence on popular thinking in China, but it is primarily by example," he said. "If you go to the next step and say, 'You guys ought to be like us,' you lose the impact of who you are."
