After Touring Great Wall, Obama Visits South Korea

November 18, 2009 8:22 a.m. EST

Beijing, China (AHN) - President Barack Obama visited the Great Wall on Wednesday, capping off a visit that sought to push China to change its currency policy, agree to a climate emissions target, and address its human rights record, but that yielded modest results, according to some pundits.

Obama walked the Badaling section of the Great Wall amid what his top aides had described as an "unprecedented" time of cooperation with China, a powerful nation that the President has said would need to be involved in nearly all global issues for these problems to be solved.

Obama held several bilateral meetings with Chinese President Hu Jintao, who held firm on the issues of appreciating his nation's currency and of improving its promotion of human rights.

The United States wants Beijing to move to a more market-oriented exchange rate to help the global economic recovery. Hu was silent on the issue during a joint press conference with Obama that allowed no questions from journalists. But Obama indicated there had been progress in the discussions, saying he was "pleased" that China had committed to liberalize over time.

On human rights, Hu made clear during the press conference, "The two sides reaffirmed the fundamental principle of respecting each other's sovereignty and territorial integrity... We will continue to act in the spirit of equality, mutual respect, and a noninterference in each other's internal affairs, and engage in dialogue and exchanges on such issues as human rights and religion in order to enhance understanding."

A joint statement from the two leaders was blunter.

"Each country and its people have the right to choose their own path, and all countries should respect each other's choice of a development model," it said. "Both sides recognized that the United States and China have differences on the issue of human rights."

Beijing has been criticized for restricting access and speech on the Internet, the arrests of Tibetan monks during last year's riots, and the alleged discrimination of Uighur Muslims, a Turkic-speaking minority in the northwest of the country.

Obama had sought pressure China on the issue of free speech on Sunday, when he held in a town hall meeting with university students in Shanghai.

Replying to a question submitted online and read by U.S. ambassador Jon Huntsman about China's Great Firewall and if Twitter "should be used freely, the President had said, "I think that the more freely information flows, the stronger the society becomes, because then citizens of countries around the world can hold their own governments accountable.. in the United States, the fact that we have free Internet -- or unrestricted Internet access is a source of strength."

On climate change, Obama and Hu agreed that "a vigorous response is necessary" and that an accord in next month's United Nations Climate Conference in Copenhagen should "include emission reduction targets of developed countries and nationally appropriate mitigation actions of developing countries."

China and the United States are the top two emitters of greenhouse gases. Washington has agreed with other industrialized nations to seek at least an 80 percent reduction, but China believes its development would be hampered by such a limit.

Obama late Wednesday travels to South Korea, his last stop in a week-long Asian tour that began with a visit to Tokyo on Friday, and continued with an APEC Summit in Singapore on Saturday.

In Seoul, he meets with President Lee Myung-bak and visits American troops stationed in the country. On top of the agenda in discussions with South Korean officials will be the Six Party Talks.

The United States is one of five nations negotiating with the North Korea about denuclearization. The other parties are China, Japan, Russia and South Korea.

North Korea conducted a nuclear test in May, and later ended the 1953 ceasefire agreement ratified after Korean War with South Korea. The communist nation received tougher sanctions from the United Nations Security Council in June, in large part due to U.S. efforts, but remained defiant, warning "all-out war" to any nation that violates its sovereignty.

Last week, a naval skirmish occurred between North Korea and South Korea, heightening tensions in the peninsula.

The United States, which has no official ties with Pyongyang, announced this week it would hold its first direct talks with North Korea. A small delegation of American officials led by Amb. Stephen Bosworth will travel to Pyongyang "at an appropriate time not yet determined" to restart Six Party Talks.