Bush dad: China's too important to us

[951-Riverside]

Source: UPI

Former U.S. President George H.W. Bush said it would have been a mistake for his son to skip the Beijing Summer Olympics to protest China's human rights policy.

In an interview broadcast Thursday on NBC's "The Today Show," the elder Bush said he thinks China has been judged unfairly in recent weeks. His remarks came just hours after his son took China to task for human rights violations in a speech in Thailand. They also followed months of protests in and about Tibet.

"We've got a lot of things in common with China," said the former president, who was a former U.S. envoy to China during the Ford administration.

Read more: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2008/08/07/Bush_dad_Chinas_... /

[Tempest]

1. By us, he means his family and their friends

The Bushies are deeply invested in China.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2002/02/19/usat...

[UpInArms]

11. from your link:

02/18/2002 - Updated 10:33 PM ET

President's uncle shares Bush family ties to China

CHICAGO — When President Bush arrives in Beijing on Thursday, he'll embrace a policy that's something of a family tradition.

Bush's approach centers on promoting U.S.-China economic ties. That's a course favored not only by his father, the first President Bush, but also by his uncle, Prescott Bush Jr., a longtime acquaintance of Chinese President Jiang Zemin.

The Bush family's ties to China go back to 1974, when President Nixon named George Bush ambassador to China. The college-age George W. Bush spent two months in China visiting his parents during his father's two-year stint.

Seven years after his brother left the ambassadorial post, Prescott Bush made his first trip to China. He later joined with Japanese partners in 1988 to build a golf course in Shanghai, the first in China. He met Jiang, who was then the mayor of Shanghai.

<snip>

Along with access, the family name has also brought scrutiny to Prescott Bush's deals:
He was criticized in 1989 for visiting China to meet with business and government leaders just three months after the Tiananmen Square massacre, in which army troops fired at pro-democracy demonstrators.
His Shanghai partnership with the Japanese firm Aoki in 1988 proved embarrassing when revelations surfaced that Aoki at the same time was allegedly trying to get business contracts by bribing Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega, whom the first President Bush later ousted from power.
His connections to an American firm, Asset Management, came into question in 1989, when the company was the only U.S. firm able to skirt U.S. sanctions and import communications satellites into China.
When Asset Management went bankrupt later that year, Bush's deal to arrange a buyout through West Tsusho, a Japanese investment firm, raised eyebrows. Newspapers reported that Japanese police were investigating West Tsusho's alleged ties to organized crime.

Bush declines to discuss those controversies. "That's old news. It's in the past," he says.

Last year, he opened the U.S.-China Chamber of Commerce offices in Chicago. The membership roster includes United Airlines, American Express, McDonald's, Ford and Arthur Andersen, the beleaguered company that audited Enron's books.

...lots more...

[IntravenousDemilo]

2. "We've got a lot of things in common with China"

Death penalty
High incarceration rate
Torture
Pollution
Overweening sense of self-importance

yep..

[Demeter]

4. Not To Mention Vomiting On Japanese Minister

metaphorically speaking, doncha know?

[JeanGrey]

16. We don't even come close.

[ryanmuegge]

20. Yeah, especially after the Patriot Act was signed into law.

[radfringe]

3. yeah, China is our banker

can't piss them off or we'll be getting forclosure notices

[wordpix]

6. BINGO! That is the REAL story here

[JeanGrey]

8. BINGO. And WE allowed it to happen for cheaper stuff.

[dflprincess]

5. And would be hypocritical of GWB to avoid any repressive regime based on their human rights policy

"We've got a lot of things in common with China," said the former president.

We sure do, I understand the Chinese have even set up official "protest zones" for the Olympics. That certainly sound familiar.

[JeanGrey]

7. No he doesn't. What do you think would happen if we all of a

sudden banned everything chinese from our society? We wouldn't have ANYTHING. That is what he means. Not that I wouldn't line up for it. I don't know why in hell we're over there for the Olympics anyway it's disgusting.

[IntravenousDemilo]

10. I think you could probably make do with what you have,

at least until such time as US factories are back up and running. Life is mostly about making do anyway.

[skoalyman]

13. bingo But that wouldn't happen it just wouldn't be fair to the corporations

meanwhile we'll just drift back off to sleep until they start selling our land

[JeanGrey]

15. Agree totally. I am sick of Chinese shit and we should be

making our own stuff and employing OUR people. And we shouldn't be participating in this Olympics.

[happygoluckytoyou]

9. hard to protest torture when you are holding the battery attached to someones nutz i guess

[islandmkl]

12. we wouldn't want china to call us into its office and say;

C:'we've been looking over your loan, and we need to make some adjustments. you're going to have to come up with some more collateral. what do you have?'

USA:'uhh...we've already given you all the industries that we could move, so far. and we've spent as much as humanly possible in iraq, so far. we've let the dollar sink as low as we can get it. (oh shit, maybe that doesn't work too good, here) we're importing as much of anything you make...we've even relaxed our oversight on your products so we can take everything you want to send us. what more can we possibly do?'

C:'we'll have to start taking your country itself. you have plenty of land and resources and structures. we'll send our people over to meet with your people and get a list of assets started. hopefully, we can find enough collateral to cover this debt. in the mean time, we will allow you to borrow from us in the same fashion as our current relationship. things should be able to be worked out. just bring in the list.'

USA (under breath): 'i'll be sure to tell the next guy.'

[Zorra]

14. Yeh, Market Stalinism is a dream come true for globalist scumbags. n/t

[JerseygirlCT]

17. More every day

I couldn't believe how badly Lauer was sucking up to GHWB this morning! I was waiting for him to drop and start licking his shoes.

[Megahurtz]

18. Poppy and Son

are playing Good Cop/Bad Cop.

What a farce.

[Bluebear]

19. Poppy: Carlyle Group's senior adviser for Asia

So by "us" he means "Carlyle".

[ryanmuegge]

21. We sold our souls by giving our economy over to them.

With the way they treat their own people, it's like a deal with the devil.