Foreign Affairs
US Media Attacks Trump For Doing The Exact Same Thing Obama Did On His First Trip To China
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The media attacked President Donald Trump Thursday for not insisting that journalists be allowed to ask questions at a joint press conference with Chinese President Xi Jinping, forgetting that former President Barack Obama did the same thing on his first trip to China.
Reporters from CNN and MSNBC decried the president for holding a joint press conference with Xi that did not allow journalists to ask questions of the two leaders, yet in their rush to criticize Trump, they forgot their history — specifically Obama’s first visit to Beijing.
Trump just became the first US president since George H.W. Bush to not take questions from reporters alongside his Chinese counterpart on his first visit here. Clinton, G.W. Bush & Obama all made a point of doing it.
— Jeremy Diamond (@JDiamond1) November 9, 2017
CNN’s Jeremy Diamond, who later issued a correction, was joined by Jake Tapper and MSNBC’s Chuck Todd.
China isn’t supposed to have a say about press access. Previous press secs used to fight with Chinese counterparts for press access when in China. Witnessed personally. https://t.co/IWMgOoy7ZB
— Chuck Todd (@chucktodd) November 9, 2017
Tapper created a long thread on the issue.
The Chinese government never wants to take questions from US reporters. In the past American presidents have insisted upon it as a demonstration of standing up for the freedoms our nation believes in. 1/ https://t.co/2af9t7ArOU
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) November 9, 2017
4/ there’s nothing strong about acceding to the wishes of an oppressive Communist government by going along with its contempt for freedom of the press. One can issue as many condemnations of Communism as one wants on paper; they’re meaningless if one then bows to totalitarianism.
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) November 9, 2017
Even Susan Rice, Obama national security adviser, attacked the president and his press secretary for supposedly kowtowing to the Chinese government.
— Susan Rice (@AmbassadorRice) November 9, 2017
They always insist, Sarah. The trick is to use diplomacy to extract that concession as a matter of principle, despite their resistence. https://t.co/4SrSmvUPSi
— Susan Rice (@AmbassadorRice) November 9, 2017
While it is true that past presidents, including Obama on a later trip, took questions at press conferences with Chinese leaders, Obama did not insist that journalists be allowed to ask questions during a joint press conference with former Chinese President Hu Jintao on his first visit to Beijing in 2009.
On press access in China: today was not the first time that the Chinese did not allow questions in bilat with US president. In ’09, Hu Jintao did not allow questions in a “joint press statement” with Obama. #thread
— David Nakamura (@DavidNakamura) November 9, 2017
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