MEDIA REACTION: CHINA, OBAMA ADMINISTRATION;BERLIN

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BERLIN 001623 STATE FOR INR/R/MR, EUR/PAPD, EUR/PPA, EUR/CE, INR/EUC, INR/P, SECDEF FOR USDP/ISA/DSAA, DIA FOR DC-4A VIENNA FOR CSBM, CSCE, PAA "PERISHABLE INFORMATION -- DO NOT SERVICE" SIPDIS E.0. 12958: N/A TAGS: OPRC KMDR CH GMUS SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION: CHINA, OBAMA ADMINISTRATION;BERLIN ¶1. Lead Stories Summary ¶2. Chinese trial against dissident ¶3. China buys Volvo ¶4. Obama Administration ¶1. Lead Stories Summary Primetime newscasts opened with stories on racing driver Michael Schumacher's return to the Formula One. Newspapers led with diverse domestic and international stories. Frankfurter Allgemeine: "Arrest warrant against Khodorkovsky associate illegal," Sueddeutsche: "Government wants to massively develop rail tracks," Die Welt: "Koehler calls for more courage," Tagesspiegel: "Former terrorist Verena Becker is free again," and Berliner Zeitung: "There is no just war." Editorials focused on Christmas and the release of former RAF terrorist Becker. ¶2. Chinese Trial against dissident Under the headline "China's weakness," Frankfurter Allgemeine opined: "Who is actually subverting China's state power? Is it Liu Xiaobo, who, with many others, called for something in the Charta 08 that the Chinese constitution promises anyway? Or is it the Chinese authorities, who always take arbitrary actions as soon as it hears an independent voice? China pretends to be a modern state, and it has come a long way economically, but the politicians are as weak and fearful as the old men whose ousting we saw 20 years ago. This historic experience is also a reason for the paranoia the leadership has when it comes to political reforms. If a dictatorship tries to reform itself without allowing questions about its power, it risks to be overrun. As a result, it hides in the trenches of oppression, which means that the feared consequences will happen even earlier." Die Welt editorialized: "It is not a coincidence that the Chinese judges will sentence the well-known dissident over Christmas. Liu Xiaobo must expect his verdict on Christmas Day, after a three-hour-long farce of a trial happened one day before Christmas eve... His crime is honesty. He was one of the people who initiated the Charta 08 for democracy.... But the Chinese dictatorship is only opening up the market, not the personal freedom of its citizens. On the contrary, it is increasingly brutal in its approach against those who call for human rights and the rights laid down in the constitution. In the shadow of the Christmas holidays, the Beijing elite believes it can sentence its most dangerous dissident. This must not succeed. The 53-year-old Liu has prominent supporters.... More must happen; politicians must not plunge into Christmas lethargy. Sharp protests and threats to impose economic sanctions are necessary to rescue Liu. Twenty years ago, the protests of the students were brutally ended in Beijing and elsewhere in the country. At the time, Liu was in prison without a trial for 18 months. History must not be repeated." ¶3. China buys Volvo Many media reported that Ford is about to sell carmaker Volvo to China. Frankfurter Allgemeine noted in a front-page editorial: "The Americans are going, and the Chinese are coming. This is one of the messages, which is not just true for the automobile sector. This is a turn of an era for the global economy, which politicians must focus on. China's state capitalism does not just fund America's deficits, but it has been investing for years into securing resources and acquiring technologies. While the Chinese pursue a forward-minded economic strategy, and also invest money in it, Western nations use billions of taxpayers' money to secure bonuses for people who have driven our economy into bankruptcy." ¶4. Obama Administration BERLIN 00001623 002 OF 002 Under the headline "The President who loves deadlines," Frankfurter Allgemeine opined: "Indeed, some degree of disillusion, if not even disappointment was inevitable after the high over the power change in the White House because the Congress' business as usual is demonstrating its persistence against Obama's slogan of change. Obama's disenchantment was aggravated by his love for deadlines and timetables, which then pass unsuccessfully or must be changed... The first deadline Obama set on the second day of his office was the closure of Guantanamo on January 22, 2010. It became clear soon after that the President would not reach his own goal.... Obama also set such tremendously ambitious goals for himself and the world in foreign and security policy that he will not achieve all of them... Experts of contemporary history are warning Obama that he will pay a high price for setting deadlines so easily." Frankfurter Rundschau editorialized: "This is the year of disappointments. The arc goes from Washington and Oslo to Kabul and Copenhagen, from Obama's inauguration to the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony, the ongoing war in Afghanistan and the debacle of the global climate conference. Instead of blaming the U.S. President for it, those who are disappointed should rather admit that they deceived themselves and cherished their illusions." DELAWIE