For decades, Republican presidential candidates enjoyed a predictable advantage over Democrats on foreign policy. But not in 2012. An NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll shows President Barack Obama holding a steady 10-point lead …
China
Political Pictures of the Week, Feb. 11-17
TIME’s photo editors bring you the best pictures of the past week from the Beltway and beyond.
Q&A: Hillary Clinton on Libya, China, the Middle East and Barack Obama
TIME Managing Editor Richard Stengel accompanied Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on her recent trip to Libya, Oman, Afghanistan and Pakistan. On Oct. 19, in the course of reporting for TIME’s cover story, which is now …
Hu Jintao’s Press Conference: A Controlling Leader Meets An Open Press
More than a year ago, President Obama traveled to Beijing, where he appeared for a press conference before hundreds of reporters with Chinese President Hu Jintao. In a room just off Tiananmen Square, the American reporters, many of whom had previously been asked by Chinese authorities to wear bright purple armbands that read, “Official …
Morning Must Reads: Inward
President Obama and President Hu Jintao of China have dinner in the White House on Jan. 18. (White House/Pete Souza)
—Austin Ramzy writes that despite the grand language of cooperation requisite in a state visit, domestic concerns are likely to push Hu and Obama inward in the near future:
While the two sides will put on a bright
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President Obama To Meet Dalai Lama, Test Limits Of Symbolism
At 11:15 this morning, two Nobel Peace Prize winners will meet privately in a room that is best known as the place where President Franklin Roosevelt planned World War II. This fact likely has little symbolic value, but given that the event in question–a long-awaited, once-delayed meeting between President Obama and the Dalai Lama–is …
A Good Fight
The Chinese, who have been acting pompous and huffy on the global stage in recent years, are upset that Hillary Clinton has challenged them on internet censorship. Too bad. This is a good fight to have–and a very good moment to show the Chinese that we’re not going to be pushed around.
Not all human rights issues are good fights. I …
U.S. And China Still Jockey Over Obama’s Speaking Plans
As Obama plans to depart for Alaska, the first leg of his week-long, four-nation trip to Asia, U.S. and Chinese officials are still negotiating the terms of Obama’s address to Chinese youth in Shanghai, reports TIME’s Beijing Correspondent Austin Ramzy. (Stateside, White House officials have so far been vague about the arranged speaking
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Iranamok
It seems an appropriate time to resurrect The New Republic’s clever name for the 1980s Iran-Contra scandal. It seems the Iranians are playing hardball on the nuclear negotiations.