Gamal Nkrumah deliberates on why it all went swimmingly in Asia for Obama in spite of his kowtowing to the Chinese United States President Barack Obama is the first American leader to assume a somewhat subservient posture during a state visit to China. Previous US leaders acted as invincible top dogs, pontificating about China's supposed poor human rights record, the plight of Tibet's spiritual leader the Dalai Lama. The overvalued currency, and the Chinese state-directed banking system that has pumped the equivalent of nearly 30 per cent of China's gross domestic product into the economy -- the world's second largest after the US. "The major challenges of the 21st century, from climate change to nuclear proliferation to economic recovery, are challenges that touch both our nations and challenges that neither of our nations can solve by acting alone," Obama admitted before embarking on his week-long trip to Asia. Inevitably parallels were drawn with the last two US presidential visits to China -- those of George W Bush in 2002 and Bill Clinton in 1998. Only one thing is clear about Obama's visit to China: it is the first time that an American president is obliged to acknowledge publicly China's rise to prominence as a global political and economic superpower. Pax americana is on the wane. This chorus should not be disregarded. Obama's hour-long question and answer session in Shanghai was a grueling exercise. Only the residents of Shanghai were able to watch it live; the rest of the Chinese populace had to do with snapshots of the widely publicised event. Nonetheless, this is the right direction to take as it becomes clear that the Chinese are fast emerging as a formidable world power. "The United States welcomes China's efforts in playing a greater role on the world stage, a role in which a growing economy is joined by growing responsibilities." Be that as it may, it is still a sobering thought to ponder the implications of China, with an economy less than a third of the size of America's, being a developing country, albeit an emerging economy. "China's partnership has proved critical in our efforts to pull ourselves out of the worst recession in generations," Obama noted. "The United States insists we do not seek to contain China's rise," Obama avowed in a conciliatory vein. The Chinese officials were equally forthright and conciliatory. They made no bones about their exultation in their new status. "We are really on the cusp of moving forward with this relationship," Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao confidently disclosed, though he, like other Chinese leaders, reacted rather coolly to Obama's overtures. The Chinese premier is expected to highlight Chinese anger at US trade tariffs ---- referred to pointedly by Hu yesterday -- and concerns over US government spending. In March, Wen said publicly that he worried about China's vast US assets. "Any policy changes by China, including on the exchange rate, will be based on its assessment of its own interests, not on external pressure," said Jin Canrong, an expert on China-US ties at Renmin University in Beijing. Both sides spoke about building a "positive, co-operative, and comprehensive" relationship. Such is embodied in Obama's emotional reunion with his half brother Mark Okoth Obama Ndesandjo who, speaking in fluent Putonghua, introduced his Chinese wife to the president, emphasising "China is about family." From the Chinese perspective, Washington has no right to lecture. Beijing is dismissive of Washington's pretenses in both the spheres of human rights and monetary and fiscal policies. China, after all, has been bankrolling the US economy and can therefore afford to use a haughty demeanour when addressing US officials. Yet, it is important to remember that China's huge holding of US treasuries is a double-edged sword. It signals Beijing's interdependence on the US economy. China's Asian neighbours, especially Washington's close political and military allies Tokyo and Seoul, seemed somewhat jittery about the seemingly subservient US disposition towards China. "President Obama seems to have felt strongly that he must pick Japan as the first country of his tour of Asia," Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said as a face-saving comment. While it is true that Japan was the first leg of his four- nation Asian visit, China's challenge was uppermost in his mind. Notwithstanding the to-do about Obama's infamous bow to Japanese Emperor Akihito last weekend, most Japanese pundits dismissed the gesture as a grossly exaggerated gaffe. Nevertheless, transparency, Japanese and Korean officials concluded, is the only way to deal with the destabilising trust vacuum emerging in Asia. Japan, South Korea and other Asian powers are now forced to face reality: China ascendant. For the first time in recent history, a visiting American president to Beijing omitted any references to touchy topics such as Tibet, Taiwan and Xinjiang. Still, at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in SingaporeChina took pride of place. The reason is crystal clear. "The US has a lot to ask from China," Xue Chen, a researcher on strategic affairs at the Shanghai Institute for International Studies, told the Associated Press news agency. "On the other hand, the US has little to offer China." Such attitudes are prevalent among Chinese officials and the Chinese public at large. In Singapore, too, transparency was the buzzword. Obama was the first US president in 43 years to conduct a tete-a-tete with a Myanmar military junta leader. He called on General Thein Sein to free the Burmese pro- democracy leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi. Obama also stressed that there would be no solution to climate change without the efforts of both China and the US, the two largest producers and consumers of energy. He discerningly neglected to mention that China has become the world's largest emitter of carbon dioxide and other polluting gasses primarily responsible for global warming. China and the US must work together to reduce such emissions, he said diplomatically. At a US-style town-hall event in Shanghai on Monday, the Chinese authorities offered the US leader an opportunity for "exchange with the Chinese public". The Shanghai engagement, with about 400 students, was televised only on local television, however, and only around 7,000 people in China managed to log on to the live streamed version carried on the Internet, according to ConnectSolutions, the firm that helped the State Department organise the webcast. This has unleashed a hail of criticism against Beijing, with international and local human rights organisations urging the lifting on tight restrictions. "I am a big supporter of non-censorship" Obama told his Chinese hosts. Obama insisted that access to information is empowering, insinuating that China has a long way to go before it becomes as open a society as the US. However, Obama's admonition fell on deaf ears. "Before the financial crisis, the US was in a world leader position," said Shi Yinhong, a professor of international relations at the People's University of China in Beijing. "Now, with China and the United States, maybe we see that the US depends on China for more issues than China depends on the US."
