Passage Four.doc

Chinese media crow over Xi’s ‘star’ performance, Obama’s no-show Mast Irham/AP - Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan arrive for a dinner hosted for leaders of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) nations in Bali, Indonesia. By Simon Denyer, Published: October?8 BEIJING — Chinese media gloated Tuesday over President Xi Jinping’s “star” performance at an Asia-Pacific trade summit in Indonesia that his American counterpart was unable to attend. After the U.S. government shutdown prompted President Obama to cancel plans to travel to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Bali, Xi saw an opportunity to press his country’s credentials as a business partner to its neighbors. Although Xi did not mention Obama’s no-show during his public appearances, Chinese newspapers were not so circumspect. “Chinese President Xi Jinping has become the brightest political star on the Asian diplomatic platform. In contrast, America has lost an important chance to perform,” the Hong Kong-based Communist Party newspaper Ta Kung Pao said in an editorial. “The influence of the U.S. is questioned more and more.” The government in Beijing has long been uneasy about Obama’s strategic goal of rebalancing U.S. foreign policy toward Asia, which many here saw as an attempt to contain China. Wen Wei Po, another Party newspaper paper based in Hong Kong, said the impasse in Washington proves that the United States no longer has the clout to back up its Asian strategy. “Bipartisan games in the U.S. have let the world see the worst of U.S. democracy,” wrote senior commentator Huang Haizhen. “It is clear to other Asia-Pacific countries that America’s return [to Asia] strategy has become powerless.” In an editorial, Wen Wei Po said the U.S. “pivot” to Asia had undermined peace and stability in the region by encouraging Asian countries to see China as a threat and as the instigator in regional territorial disputes. Now, the editorial said, more and more countries are “no l