A01 Bush, Hu Produce Summit of Symbols (Prot. Screams at Chin. Pres)

[rodeodance]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/20/AR2006042000300.html?referrer=email

Bush, Hu Produce Summit of Symbols
Protester Screams At Chinese President

By Peter Baker and Glenn Kessler
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, April 21, 2006; Page A01

President Bush pressed China's visiting President Hu Jintao yesterday to open up markets, expand freedom and do more to curb nuclear programs in Iran and North Korea but came away with no specific agreements in a summit emphasizing symbolism over breakthroughs.

Hosting the first White House visit of a Chinese president in nine years, Bush welcomed Hu with pageantry, marching bands and a 21-gun salute in a sun-splashed South Lawn ceremony, then escorted him inside for polite talks on a range of long-standing issues. In return, Hu offered vague assurances that he will address U.S. economic concerns while resisting tougher action on Iran and North Korea.


The one off-script moment in an otherwise meticulously choreographed day came when a member of the Falun Gong religious sect that is suppressed in China screamed at Hu for several long minutes as he addressed hundreds of Bush aides and ticketed guests on the lawn. "President Hu! Your days are numbered," she shouted. "President Bush! Stop him from killing!" A startled Hu paused until Bush leaned over and encouraged him to continue. "You're okay," Bush assured Hu.

Such a jarring disruption inside the White House gates is extremely rare and seen as deeply offensive to the protocol-sensitive Chinese leadership. Bush, described as angry by aides who saw him afterward, apologized to Hu when they sat down in the Oval Office. "This was unfortunate, and I'm sorry this happened," Bush said, according to a White House official.

[rodeodance]

1. "We have pursued trickle-down liberty -Pelosi (D-Calif.)

.....When she screamed from a press riser where cameras were recording the event, it took several minutes before uniformed Secret Service officers could get through the throng of photographers to remove her. Channing Phillips, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office, said she would likely be charged with attempting to intimidate, coerce, threaten or harass a foreign official in the performance of his duties, punishable by as much as six months in prison.

Congressional Democrats also used the Hu visit to criticize Bush's China policy. In a letter to Bush this week, Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) complained that the administration "still has no coherent strategy for managing this nation's relationship with China."

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) derided Bush's approach as wishful thinking. "We have pursued trickle-down liberty -- promoting economic freedom first, assuming that political freedom will follow," she wrote in the Los Angeles Times. "Reality exposes this policy as the illusion it is."

Economics permeated the discussions at the White House yesterday. Bush aides trumpeted Hu's comments about transforming China into a more consumer-driven economy, which would presumably benefit U.S. businesses at a time when the United States is running a $202 billion annual trade deficit. And they pronounced themselves encouraged that Hu said he would continue to loosen controls over the Chinese currency, which U.S. corporate leaders blame for hurting their business opportunities.

[JPZenger]

2. And the woman is charged with intimidation

The Chinese government do everything they can to oppress the people who exercise her religion, and then the US charges the woman with "intimidation." She is being charged with the Federal crime of intimidation of a foreign official for yelling.