Hu Jintao meets the free press

„President Obama granted him the full state-dinner treatment that President George W. Bush denied him five years ago - but in return, Hu had to put up with a news conference, which he had refused to do when Obama visited China. For a repressive ruler, facing a free press is about as pleasant a prospect as attending the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony. After the leaders' standard opening statements full of the blah-blah about bilateral cooperation, the Associated Press's Ben Feller rose and asked a gutsy, forceful question.

»Can you explain to the American people how the United States can be so allied with a country that is known for treating its people so poorly, for using censorship and force to repress its people?« he asked Obama. And to Hu: »I'd like to give you a chance to respond to this issue of human rights. How do you justify China's record, and do you think that's any of the business of the American people?« Obama answered. The translator translated. All eyes turned to Hu - who said nothing. Instead, he looked to a woman from China Central Television - the state-run network that answers to the Communist Party's propaganda department - who tossed him a softball about »friendship and mutual understanding«.

But the next questioner, Bloomberg's Hans Nichols, gave Hu a lesson in press freedoms. »First off, my colleague asked you a question about human rights which you did not answer«, the lanky newsman advised the Chinese strongman. »I was wondering if we could get an answer to that question«. In Beijing, that impertinence would get a reporter jailed. But Hu wasn't in Beijing. During the translation of Nichols's question, Hu held a palm up and smiled, as if he couldn't see what all the fuss was about. »Because of the technical translation and interpretation problem, I did not hear the question about the human rights«, he explained - falsely, as it turns out.”