Foreign Policy

China and the U.S. must treat each other as equals in the new international framework, one top Chinese official said Monday, while picking up on some of President Obama's old campaign themes.

Chinese State Councilor Dai Bingguo spoke of "a spirit of mutual respect, treating each other as equals, mutual benefits" and progress during an opening statement at the two day Strategic and Economic Dialogue meetings in Washington this week.

Dai is the functionary equivalent of the U.S. secretary of State in the Chinese political structure.

"Today, China, the United States and other countries are all living in a smaller global village and we all face more and bigger global challenges that we cannot handle single-handedly," Dai said in a translated version of his speech.

But the Chinese councilor also picked up on some Americanisms, incorporating one of the president's trademark campaign slogans into his speech previewing the dialogue.

"Can we manage to do that?" Dai asked of the countries' abilities to address the challenges facing the U.S. and China.

"My answer is, we must work hard to make it happen," he said. "And, yes, we can. That is borrowed from President Obama: 'Yes, we can.'"

The U.S. and China must proceeded with cooperation, not confrontation, to address the challenges of the 21st century, President Obama said this morning.

Speaking to the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue here in Washington, the President said the relationship between China and the United States "will shape the 21st century, which makes it as important as any bilateral relationship in the world."

"My confidence is rooted in the fact that the United States and China share mutual interests," the President continued.

Obama stressed economic recovery, clean energy and nuclear non-proliferation as the topics most demanding cooperation.

Speaking to an audience that included the Chinese Vice Premier and State Counselor, the President quoted NBA star Yao Ming to emphasize patience.

"[A]s a new President and as a basketball fan, I have learned from the words of Yao Ming, who said--"No matter whether you are new or an old team member, you need time to adjust to one another," said the President.

But the President was entirely conciliatory to the Chinese diplomats in attendance. While praising China's economic recovery, Obama urged China to fully respect human rights.

"Just as we respect China's ancient culture and remarkable achievements, we also strongly believe that the religion and culture of all peoples must be respected and protected, and that all people should be free to speak their minds," Obama said. "That includes ethnic and religious minorities in China, as surely as it includes minorities within the United States."

Read the full remarks after the jump.

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Several lawmakers will head to Honduras this weekend to meet with members of the government installed after a coup ousted the country's left-leaning president.

Rep. Connie Mack (R-Fla.) will lead a delegation of at least a few members of Congress to the Central American nation this weekend, his office announced Thursday.

While Mack's office confirmed that more lawmakers are expected to join him on the trip, it was unclear which members would go, because they have not yet confirmed they would attend.

"It's important to remember that Manuel Zelaya's removal was not a military coup," Mack said in a statement announcing the trip. "The Honduran Supreme Court, attorney general, Congress and the Honduran people were right to confront Zelaya as he usurped the law and gutted their constitution."

Some Republicans in Congress have backed the new Honduran government, while President Obama expressed concerned over the ouster of Zelaya last month.

A message that the U.S. economy has "fundamentally changed" in the wake of the global financial crisis will headline talks between top U.S. and Chinese officials in Washington, D.C. next week, senior administration officials said Thursday.

The U.S. will emphasize to China that it should redirect its economy to be less dependent on exports to Americans at the annual Strategic and Economic Dialogue meeting in D.C. next week.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner will meet with their Chinese counterparts, State Councilor Dai Bingguo and Vice Premier Wang Qishan, respectively. The meetings will be held July 27-28.

"Perhaps the most important message is that there's been a fundamental change in the U.S. economy," a senior administration official told reporters in a briefing previewing the meetings. "The U.S. is going to recover, but this is going to be a different recovery from what the Chinese have seen in the past."

President Obama has spoken in the past about his desire to see the U.S. restructure its economy away from a cyclical, bubble-and-bust model of growth.

"Our message to the Chinese is that if you want to achieve the growth objective, you're going to have to find a different way to achieve it than exports," the official said.

Those talks will include issues of monetary policy, including the longstanding practice by the Chinese government to peg its currency to the U.S. dollar.

"The exchange rate is going to certainly be a tool," an official said, before stressing that the exchange rate between the dollar and yuan would be among a variety of issues included in the talks. There are a lot of factors that affect this trade situation."

On the part of the State Department, officials said they hope to achieve a "genuine dialogue" with the Chinese during next weeks talks, and will seek to broaden the scope of issues and dialogues on which the U.S. will maintain discussions with the Chinese.

The North Korean Foreign Ministry lashed out at Hillary Clinton today, mocking her intelligence and appearance after the Secretary of State had expressed frustration with North Korean belligerence.

During a trip to Thailand, Clinton said North Korean leaders were acting like "small children and unruly teenagers and people who are demanding attention."

A North Korean spokesman responded with a fury, saying Clinton is "by no means intelligent" and is a "funny lady," according to CNN.

"Sometimes she looks like a primary schoolgirl and sometimes a pensioner going shopping," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Clinton was in Phuket, Thailand for a meeting of southeast Asian states.

Read more about the war of words here.

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) delayed committee votes on two State Department posts today over objections to the administration's policy towards Honduras, Reuters reports.

DeMint, who believes the recent coup in Honduras was legal, asked to delay votes on the nominations of (1) Arturo Valenzuela to be Assistant Secretary of State for western hemisphere affairs and (2) Thomas Shannon to be Ambassador to Brazil. Shannon currently holds the westerh hemisphere post, and Valenzuela would be his replacement when he ships off to Brazil.

Committee members are customarily granted requests for delays on nomination votes.

The Senate Foreign Relations committee will likely vote on the nominations next week, by which time DeMint hopes the administration will reconsider its support for ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya.

President Obama's decision to shutter the terrorist detainment center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba is an "outright dangerous approach" to handling national security, the leader of a military families group alleged Monday.

Kirk S. Lippold, the former commander of the USS Cole ship that was attacked in Yemen in 2000, blasted the president's decision to close down Guantanamo Bay a day before the Justice Department releases a report containing recommendations on how to handle the prison's detainees in the future.

"Tomorrow, the Obama Administration is slated to issue its report at last providing clear direction on the process and confinement of Guantanamo Bay detainees," said Lippold, the senior military fellow for the group Military Families United. "For six months the Administration has taken an inconsistent and downright dangerous approach in dealing with this critical national security issue."

Military Families United bills itself as the "premier military family advocacy organization," and was founded in 2008.

"While this long awaited report cannot alter the risky decisions made by the Obama Administration during the past six months, it will hopefully provide some answers to the families who have paid the ultimate price in defense of our freedom," Lippold said.

The war in Iraq cost the GOP politically, the former head of the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) admitted this weekend.

Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.) said that the war in Iraq was a war of choice, and one that became associated with Republicans, costing them a toll in the last two election cycles.

"The reality is that if you engage in a war of choice -- and Iraq was a war of choice -- it

Top officials from the United States and China will powwow in Washington, D.C. later this month for a two-stay "strategic and economic dialogue" between the countries.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner will meet on July 27-28 with their Chinese counterparts (State Councilor Dai Bingguo and Vice Premier Wang Qishan, respectively) to discuss "a wide range of bilateral, regional and global areas of immediate and long-term strategic and economic interest," according to a Treasury release Monday.

The Strategic & Economic Dialogue (S&ED) was established by President Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao earlier this year. This year's meeting in Washington is the first of an expected annual round of meetings, to alternate between the U.S. and Chinese capitals.

The Obama administration touted the meetings as different from the "Strategic Economic Dialogue" (SED) established by President George W. Bush, with the new meetings being more "cross-cutting" and regular.

Among the gifts exchanged between Pope Benedict XVI and President Obama at the Vatican on Friday were a recent "Vatican Instruction on Bioethics" -- a pointed message from the Catholic leader to the pro-choice president.

Benedict gave Obama a copy of "Dignitas Personae" ("The Dignity of a Person"), an instructional document released last December elaborating the Catholic Church position on issues such as stem cell research, fertility treatment, and cloning.

Obama said he had "some reading to do on the plane" after receiving the document, according to the National Catholic Reporter.

"In the course of their cordial exchanges the conversation turned first of all to questions which are in the interests of all and which constitute a great challenge for the future of every nation and for the true progress of peoples, such as the defense and promotion of life and the right to abide by one's conscience," the Vatican said in a statement about the meeting afterward.

"The reading [of this document] could help the president better understand the church's position," one Vatican aide told the Catholic Reporter.