There are good reasons for Obama to be re-elected, even if he had done nothing in his first term. Foreign policy is the supreme prerogative of the President of the United States (POTUS), but leaving aside Sarah “Russia is next door to me” Palin, the rest of the Republican field would also accelerate American decline. John Boehner, new House of Representatives leader had this to say to sum up his with meeting with Chinese president Hu Jintao – “Chinese leaders have a responsibility to do better and the United States has a responsibility to hold them to account.” This patronising attitude is reminiscent of how one would treat a delinquent child – or a dog. The People’s Republic of China is not a satrap of American dominion or on probation, but Boehner would probably be very happy in the Know Nothing Party of the nineteenth century. He clearly overestimates China’s control over North Korea and the USA’s control over China, unless he is thinking of that other China – Taiwan.
The House foreign affairs committee held a meeting to coincide with Hu's visit to the White House. Among those at the meeting was the Republican Dana Rohrabacher, one of the most hostile members of Congress towards Beijing, who told CNN Hu’s Communist Party is "a gangster regime that murders its own people". In a separate interview, Rohrabacher described the Chinese government as Nazis. Godwin’s law of Internet posting concludes that any argument will reach a point which mentions either Hitler or the Nazis at which the point the argument is lost by the person who made the comparison. In a mathematical sense, out of one that chances that an argument will reach such a stage are not a fraction but inevitably one. It is unavoidable. If Republicans are hosting such a debate, that stage will be reached all the more quickly. One doesn’t need to hurl ad hominem attacks at the Chinese hierarchy – they themselves invite comparisons with the National Socialists by forbidding Liu Xiaobo and any members of his family to collect the Nobel Peace Prize. The People’s Republic of China was totalitarian but it is now authoritarian – a fine but important distinction.
Is it any wonder that after this, Hu said the US-China relationship must be based on mutual respect? Certainly, the Chinese are guilty of disrespect themselves, such as at the Copenhagen climate summit, but it is no worse than some American actions. Telling the US to recognise that Tibet and Taiwan are “issues that concern China's territorial integrity and China's core interests” is a sign of growing confidence in Beijing – they can’t be pushed around, even on matters of dubious legality (Taiwan’s main island Formosa and Tibet were only acquired under the non-Chinese Manchu Q’ing dynasty – they are neither historically nor ethnically connected with China, though on the latter issue demographics are altering in both).
It is no surprise that not much has emerged from the visit. $45bn in trade deals had been announced earlier. The only concrete announcement is China's agreement to extend the stay of two pandas at Washington national zoo by five years. That says it all really. If you won’t truly engage, then expect only trivialities to be attained.
Meanwhile, what is happening with the police? Having weathered the storm about the death of Ian Tomlinson, kettling and the handling of the student protests, they might have expected to have a period of tranquillity. However, individual and systemic failings have thrown them back into the bearpit of criticism. Something that has been bubbling away for a while is their decision to suppress an investigation into allegations of a Sunday tabloid’s indulging in wiretapping on an industrial scale. With an assistant editor at that paper now suspended and David Cameron’s spin doctor Andy Coulson resigning (again), the Metropolitan police seem to have at the very least compromised themselves to stay on good terms with News International. Now the cops have allegations against them. That was systemic. Then, mingling the system and the individual, we have the undercover surveillance officers who had sexual intercourse with those they were supposed to be spying on and even leading organisational roles. One of them went as far as to marry a suspect and have children with her. That’s taking research into largely harmless groups such as Reclaim the Streets or environmental movements a bit too far. Finally, we have a purely individual case, with an elite bodyguard to successive home secretaries found to have had an affair with Alan Johnson’s wife, dealing a possibly fatal blow to Johnson’s political career and allowing Ed Balls, with his lean and hungry look, to lick his lips at finally getting the compensation prize of Shadow Chancellor for missing out on leading the Labour party. All in all, it’s been a pretty bad two weeks for law enforcement.