A seasoned campaigner for high political office, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton worked the crowds in Asia on her maiden tour in office, making good on a promise to reach out to the world.
And though she is a tough competitor who narrowly lost the race for the US presidency last year, Clinton proved a hit with many when she showed her softer side.
Appearing at a university campus in Tokyo, she charmed and inspired her audience with self-deprecating jokes about her roller-coaster public life and lofty talk about the planet’s future.
PHOTO: AFP
In Jakarta, she poked fun at her music tastes on a popular TV show and mixed with smiling and cheering crowds in a slum benefiting from US aid projects.
Clinton moved an audience of 2,000 at Ewha University in Seoul, the largest women’s college in the world, becoming deeply personal at one point when she spoke of her love for her husband.
In Beijing, she spoke humbly about past US environmental mistakes when she visited a clean-energy plant to highlight the need for international cooperation in fighting climate change.
Less hard-edged than she often appeared to be during the presidential campaign, the 61-year-old has basked in the glow of warm contact with private citizens and public officials alike.
Upon meeting Clinton, one of China’s top officials, Dai Bingguo (戴秉國), said: “And you look younger and more beautiful than you look on TV.”
She reddened, before replying: “Well, we will get along very well.”
Clinton has signaled she plans to meet as many people as she can, both inside and outside government, in her role as the top US diplomat.
She has said the new administration of US President Barack Obama is looking to balance military might with the “soft” power of diplomacy and development — a combination the Obama administration has called “smart power.”
Her approach so far has stood in contrast to that of her predecessor, Condoleezza Rice, an academic whose public persona on overseas trips was more reserved.
She says she wants to repair the damage to the image of the US abroad after eight years under former US president George W. Bush, although she does not mention the former president by name.
“I really believe that it’s that kind of outreach that we have to do everywhere ... there’s a real hunger for the United States to be present again,” Clinton told reporters traveling on her Asian tour.
“People still really want to like America and they want to know what we’re doing,” she said.
In Indonesia, she connected with a population fascinated by Obama, who spent four years of his childhood in Jakarta.
On popular television show Dahsyat, Clinton caused a stir among the young guests when she started off with: “I was just speaking to President Obama.”
Members of the audience, their eyes lighting up and voices rising with excitement at the comment, later wanted to know her tastes in music.
When she replied that she likes “old standbys” by the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, the audience applauded and cheered.
“I don’t feel so old,” she gushed.
She also complimented her audience by pointing out how Indonesia had changed over the years to become a place where “democracy, Islam and modernity” thrive.
It was a clear indication of how the new administration wants to promote Indonesia as a model for other Muslim countries with which Obama seeks a “new way forward” based on mutual interests and respect.
Clinton also spoke about the “struggle” against terrorism, discarding the “war on terror” language used by the Bush administration.
In Tokyo, she used a visit to a Shinto shrine to promote the Obama administration’s push for more “balance and harmony” in US foreign policy.
She also drew praise by promoting women’s rights on the tour.
During a meeting with Chinese women’s activists, one said: “I personally think you are a wonderful representative of the best women on this earth.”
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese