Smart Power Smarting From A Slap

Back in February, while in China, Secretary Clinton got slammed pretty much unilaterally for not coming to Beijing swinging the hammer of human rights:

Amnesty International is "shocked and extremely disappointed," that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton did not arrive in China rattling the saber of human rights. The Times Online is claiming that Hillary Clinton is "pandering" to the Chinese while dissenters are being silenced. And Human Rights Watch has an equally nasty condemnation of Clinton, claiming she is, "segregating human rights issues into a deadend dialogue of the deaf." --TBN, Feb. 22, 2009

At the time, I said, "Clinton's seemingly off-hand remark, 'But we pretty much know what they are going to say,' also pretty much sums it up: If we come in guns blazing over human rights, we're going to get turned away." And, that is exactly what happened yesterday. Secretary Clinton made the following statement concerning the upcoming anniversary of the Tiananmen Square uprising of 1989.

"A China that has made enormous progress economically and is emerging to take its rightful place in global leadership should examine openly the darker events of its past and provide a public accounting of those killed, detained or missing, both to learn and to heal," Clinton said in a statement released here late Wednesday.

She also called on China to release prisoners still detained for taking part in the peaceful pro-democracy protests and end harassment of the Tiananmen Mothers, which is pressing to know more about missing loved ones.

"China can honor the memory of that day by moving to give the rule of law, protection of internationally recognized human rights and democratic development the same priority as it has given to economic reform," she said. --[SOURCE]

The Chinese government, predictably, responded in a hostile and regressive manner:

A China foreign ministry spokesman, Qin Gang, said at a press conference: "The statement from the United States ignores the facts and makes groundless accusations against the Chinese government.

"We express our strong dissatisfaction and resolute opposition. We urge the United States to forsake its prejudices, correct its erroneous ways and avoid obstructing and damaging China-US relations."

The Communist party describes the events of 4 June 1989 as "a counter-revolutionary riot" and has never released the names of those who died. --[SOURCE]

Well, there you go, Amnesty International. Hillary Clinton did what you wanted, and "meaningfully [stood] up to China on human rights issues." And what did we get for it? Slapped in the face. Not that I believe we should now just give up, but Secretary Clinton was certainly correct: we pretty much know what they are going to say.