Clinton’s visit: Positive… yet no one’s budging

~ By Cynthia Dawn Roy

Clinton and President Hu

Hillary Clinton’s visit with Chinese Foreign Minister Yang and President Hu on Wednesday seems to have been a peaceful and encouraging one, though what was actually accomplished is still to be seen. Both Clinton and Yang had very positive things to say about their visit. Hu explained that China is eager to maintain and strengthen communications and coordination with the United States and Clinton echoed that she was proud of the strength and resilience of the relationship.

At the same time, nothing was actually accomplished through Hillary’s visit. There were two major issues that were discussed; the conflict in Syria and the quarrels Asia continues to have about several small islands. Besides the problems China has been having with Japan defending the Diaoyu islands, there are also several other islands China has claimed that is causing tension in Vietnam, the Philippines and other Southeast Asian countries. The U.S. has claimed to take no sides on the matter, but it is clear that if the conflict implodes, the United States will defend their allies. Washington’s offer to aid in multilateral negotiations was harshly refused by China, who told the U.S. to mind their own business.

Several newspapers have accused the U.S. of using the conflict in the South-eastern seas for their own advantage, but Clinton insisted that Washington only wanted the disputes to be handled in a diplomatic manner. Neither Clinton nor Hu was willing to waive in the South China Sea debate.