AFP, BEIJING
The state of US President Barack Obama’s marriage and Tibet were just two of the topics raised in thousands of questions submitted by Chinese Internet users ahead of the US president’s first visit to China.
The Web sites of the official Xinhua news agency and the People’s Daily has for days been collecting questions for a planned meeting between Obama and students in Shanghai today where he also aims to address online users.
“The details of the Shanghai event are still being worked out. Netizens’ questions were solicited by Xinhua.net and we expect the president to answer a few of them,” US embassy spokeswoman Susan Stevenson said.
Many Net users have taken up China’s usual grievances against the US — from protectionism to support of Taiwan and US stances on Xinjiang and Tibet — but it was impossible to verify the spontaneity of the questions.
“The United States has announced a series of anti-dumping measures towards China, which approved the Disney project in Shanghai — do you not think China is loyal to the United States, which has not respected China?” one contributor asked.
“If China used the same methods towards [al-Qaeda chief Osama] bin Laden that the United States use towards the Dalai Lama, what would be your impression?” asked another, referring to the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader.
“To protect American interests, you bring about redundancy for around 100 Chinese workers. Do you think that’s normal?” asked one, reflecting Beijing’s concerns over a rise in protectionism.
Other questions were more surprising.
“Why have many American presidents had daughters and not sons?” one asked.
“Could you talk to the NBA and let Yao Ming [姚明] and the Houston Rockets win the championship?” another queried.
Some inquisitive souls even ventured into Obama’s private life — “Is your marriage happy? What in your opinion are the foundations of a successful relationship?” — or mention the president’s half-brother who lives in China.
The two official Web sites are subject to censorship, but some voices critical of China’s communist regime have still managed to slip through the net.
“Is there corruption among American leaders and what do you do to prevent such a phenomenon?” one online user said, in a veiled criticism of rampant corruption among China’s officials.
“What do you think of the typically Chinese way of interpreting freedom of expression, with a propaganda department that filters comments and removes messages?” one contributor asked on the People’s Daily Web site.
Highlighting the importance of the Internet in China, the US embassy organized a meeting with a dozen well-known Chinese bloggers on Thursday.
Jin Rao, who rose to prominence with his anti-cnn.com Web site aimed at exposing the Western media’s reporting mistakes, and others met officials ahead of Obama’s visit, which began yesterday in Shanghai.
The aim of the meeting was to “hear the voices of bloggers, outside of traditional media,” Jin said on his Web site.
And the US consulate in the southern city of Guangzhou has set up an account on Twitter to post live feeds from Obama’s meeting in Shanghai. Twitter is blocked in China, but online users still access it regularly, managing to bypass the so-called “Great Firewall of China” by using proxy servers.
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