US slavery likened to serfdom

BEIJING (AP) — The conviction was clear but the message befuddling: China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman was equating serfdom in Tibet to slavery in the U.S. — just ahead of President Barack Obama’s first trip to China.

Was it a monumental gaffe, last-minute stab at finding a common frame of reference, or a canny piece of strategy designed to redefine the U.S.-China dispute over Tibet?

Whatever the motivation or intended effect, the response so far probably won’t be to Beijing’s liking. Among academics, activists and commentators, the remarks have been labeled illogical, ignorant, and even insensitive.

Ministry spokesman Qin Gang’s argument broke down like this: Obama, as the first black U.S. president and an admirer of Abraham Lincoln, should appreciate the importance of liberating slaves — what China says it did in Tibet in 1959.

“We hope that President Obama, more than any other foreign dignitary, can have a better and deeper understanding of China’s position regarding safeguarding its national sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Qin said.

Such reasoning struck some as patently offensive to Obama for linking his policy decisions to the color of his skin, and to Tibetans, who revere the Dalai Lama as part of their Buddhist faith.

“It is an insult for the unelected and authoritarian Chinese government to suggest that an instinctive democrat such as Abraham Lincoln would have sided with China in seeking to deny the Tibetan people their fundamental right to determine their own future,” said Stephanie Brigden, director of the Free Tibet campaign.

Qin’s words underscored the huge gulf in perception between China and the West over Tibet and its exiled Buddhist leader.

China views Tibet, which communist troops entered in 1950, as inherently part of its territory and key symbol of Chinese sovereignty and independence.