Pragmatic Foreign Policy: Excusing China's Human Rights Atrocities

So, most of the people I talked to in Bangkok were optimistic about President O, and I tried to do the polite guest thing and was gracious (despite my own political leanings). However, they were kind of miffed that America's foreign policy was ignoring our longtime ally in Southeast Asia, exhibited during SECSTATE Hillary's visit to the region. From the Bangkok Post:

But here in Thailand, it is nearly a month into the Obama presidency without a word from the new government in Washington. Since the US election last November, Thai exports to the US have slumped because of the recession. The business community grows increasingly worried that the new administration is determined to press protectionist measures. The ill-timed "Buy American" campaign is part and parcel of renewed calls for the US to pressure its friends and trading partners on labour issues, intellectual property piracy and the environment. Mrs Clinton will be specifically pushing this week for more action on global warming. Mr Obama, who confused Thailand with Taiwan during a campaign speech last year in his only mention of our country, will visit Indonesia later this year.

Well, you can't expect the Secretary of State to visit every single country in the region, but you could've at least asked her to not so blatantly excuse human rights violations committed by the communist country of China. Hot Air has the details:

Amnesty International and a pro-Tibet group voiced shock Friday after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton vowed not to let human rights concerns hinder cooperation with China.

Paying her first visit to Asia as the top US diplomat, Clinton said the United States would continue to press China on long-standing US concerns over human rights such as its rule over Tibet.

“But our pressing on those issues can’t interfere on the global economic crisis, the global climate change crisis and the security crisis,” Clinton told reporters in Seoul just before leaving for Beijing.

Seeing how much of our monstrous debt is carried by the Chinese in the form of Treasury Notes, it's no wonder that she has to grovel at their feet. That's too bad for the Tibetans and Chinese bloggers getting mysteriously shanked in bathroom stalls, but American politicians have to keep up our ridiculous standard of living somehow.

Execution of a Tibetan Dissident, Tough Shit for Them