The United States and China reported no major breakthroughs Friday after only their second round of talks about human rights since 2002.
The Obama administration wants to push Beijing to treat its citizens better, but it also needs Chinese support on Iranian and North Korean nuclear standoffs, climate change and other difficult issues. ...
[Assistant Secretary of State Michael] Posner said in addition to talks on freedom of religion and expression, labor rights and rule of law, officials also discussed Chinese complaints about problems with U.S. human rights, which have included crime, poverty, homelessness and racial discrimination.
First of all, I need to insert a "say WHAT?" China is complaining about human rights "problems" in the U.S.--arguably the freest nation ever known to mankind? But the Obama administration just rollllllled over:
We are apologizing to CHINA--a country that has a history of murdering its own citizens opposed to the government's communist policies and doesn't even know the meaning of religious tolerance. But we are apologizing for enforcing our own immigration laws? WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS ADMINISTRATION?![Posner] said U.S. officials did not whitewash the American record and in fact raised on its [sic] own a new immigration law in Arizona that requires police to ask about a person's immigration status if there is suspicion the person is in the country illegally.
Oh, nevermind. They are apparently just so mature, the rest of us cannot even comprehend:
"We're talking about issues that are uncomfortable, quite frankly, but it is a sign of maturity that we can talk about specific cases," [U.S. ambassador to China Jon] Huntsman said.And to cap it all off:
In the aftermath, Assistant Secretary of State Mike Posner allowed that Arizona's new immigration law had come up for discussion among the diplomats.Just unbelievable."We brought it up early and often. It was mentioned in the first session, and as a troubling trend in our society and an indication that we have to deal with issues of discrimination or potential discrimination, and that these are issues very much being debated in our own society," Mr. Posner says.