‘PEOPLE TO PEOPLE’ TRIP LOOKS MORE LIKE A WEEK-LONG VACATION IN CHINA

Michelle Obama, her daughters and her mother will visit the Forbidden City, the Great Wall, the Terracotta Warriors Museum, and the Chengdu Panda Base in addition to meetings with China’s First Lady and Chinese high school and university students

Michelle Obama has been severely criticized for her costly – to the taxpayers - family vacations in Hawaii and Spain, just to mention a couple of destinations. The vacation in the Spanish Costa del Sol cost the taxpayers nearly half-a-million dollars. The attacks against her have been committed on the internet by a shit-load full of Obama haters. In the past, I have defended the First Lady, pointing out that the wives of former presidents also vacationed at considerable expense to the taxpayers. However, it is hard for me to defend this trip to China.

Mrs. Obama will be accompanied by her daughters and her mother. The White House calls it a “People to People” trip that is designed to improve relations with China by promoting cultural exchanges. The president’s daughters and mother-in-law are going along ostensibly in recognition of Chinese family cultural values. The First Lady will meet with China’s first lady Peng Liyuan and speak to Chinese students in Beijing and Chengdu.

The family will also visit the Forbidden City in Beijing, the Great Wall near Beijing, the terracotta warriors in Xi’an, and a panda preserve in Chengdu, each of which is a valued tourist attraction.

“People to People” trip designed to improve relations with China? Baloney! It sure looks like nothing more than a week-long vacation to me. The only reason the first lady will be speaking to students in Chengdu is to justify a trip for Sasha and Malia to visit the panda preserve which is home to around 50 of the cuddly creatures. And the White House is trying to make it sound like Mrs. Obama’s mother was included in this journey in recognition of and respect for China’s traditional family values.

Mrs. Obama and the girls will have some pleasant get-togethers with Peng, but those pleasantries will not improve relations between the two countries. China and the U.S. have been at odds over trade issues and over disputes between China and Japan, each claiming a group of islands in the East China Sea. As long as the U.S. and China are going to clash over trade issues, and as long as the U.S. continues to take Japan’s side in the Senkaku Islands dispute, even Jesus Christ would not be able to improve U.S.-China relations.

What is most disconcerting about this trip is that the Obama administration is trying to sell it as a diplomatic endeavor to promote education and exchange programs between China and the U.S., when it really looks like little more than another Obama family vacation. And the taxpayers will be soaked with a hefty sum for a sightseeing trip by Michelle, Sasha, Malia and Michelle’s mother.