Obama urged to cancel state visit of Chinese President

Washington, Aug 25: Top Republican presidential candidate Scott Walker has said that President Barack Obama needs to show some "backbone" on US-China relations and cancel the state visit next month of his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.

The 2016 presidential candidate's remarks came yesterday amid US stock market's tumble, which Walker said was driven by China's "manipulation" of their economy. "Americans are struggling to cope with the fall in today's markets driven in part by China's slowing economy and the fact that they actively manipulate their economy," said , a leading Republican presidential candidate.

"Rather than honouring Chinese President Xi Jinping with an official state visit next month, President Obama should focus on holding China accountable over its increasing attempts to undermine US interests," he said. Stocks from London to Paris to New York all bled yesterday, as global shares went into a tailspin, with European and US stocks tumbling as concerns over Chinese economy rattled investors worldwide.

The Wisconsin Governor further said, "Given China's massive cyber attacks against America, its militarisation of the South China Sea, continued state interference with its economy, and persistent persecution of Christians and human rights activists, President Obama needs to cancel the state visit."

[Read: Make economy transparent, currency market-driven: US to China]

"There's serious work to be done rather than pomp and circumstance. We need to see some backbone from President Obama on US-China relations," he said. The White House said President Xi would be travelling to US next month and all these issues will be raised by Obama during his meetings with his Chinese counterparts.

"Certainly there will be continued discussion about China's efforts to move towards a more market-determined exchange rate for their currency. It also raises questions about the concerns that we've expressed in the past about China's behaviour in cyberspace, and that there are examples of cyber-espionage that have had significant economic consequences for our relationship," White House Press Secretary, Josh Earnest, told reporters.

"These are all the kinds of things that have remained high on the agenda whenever President has sat down with his Chinese counterpart. "And I'm confident that that will be true when President Obama has the opportunity to welcome President Xi to the White House next month," he said.

We have long made the case that "human rights" is at the "top of the agenda" whenever the President is meeting with his Chinese counterpart, Earnest said. "In a variety of settings, including when the President himself travelled to China, raised significant concerns about the Chinese government's respect for the basic universal human rights of its people, including access to information and freedom of expression.

"That is a concern that President Obama will continue to raise with his counterpart," he said.

PTI