In meetings with the Chinese during the Bush administration, Taiwan was always discussed in depth even though there was little agreement.
Still, officials insisted that the Obama-Hu meeting was “business-like.”
“They had an hour meeting with translation and had a lot of issues to cover. They went through pretty much all of the major issues that one would expect. In these meetings there is not time to do much else,” one official said.
“I think the atmosphere of the meeting was good. Keep in mind, this is the first time these gentlemen have met. Obama agreed to visit China in the second half of this year and will almost certainly expand the trip to call on Japan, South Korea and Indonesia,” the official said.
“The two presidents agreed to fight protectionism and work to improve military ties and Admiral Gary Roughead, US Chief of Naval Operations, will visit China this month to attend events for the 60th anniversary of the PLA [People's Liberation Army],” the official said.
“The two sides agreed to maintain close communications and coordination and to work together for the settlement of conflicts and reduction of tensions,” a joint statement said.
A Washington-based analyst said that the “Obama administration wants to avoid any discussion with China on Taiwan. They are not prepared to push the established policies. The Chinese must hope that Washington will be prepared to compromise at the meeting this summer.”
“At the meeting in London the Americans didn't want to spoil the honeymoon euphoria,” another analyst said. “And so they said little or nothing about Taiwan.”
“Everyone could see the elephant in the room, but nobody wanted to mention it,” the analyst said.
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