As former U.S. ambassador to China Jon Huntsman prepared to formally announce his campaign for the White House as expected, his team made moves to distance the candidate-to-be from any accusations that he?s a panda hugger.
In their own way, Chinese media are keeping their distance as well, saying conspicuously little about the presidential aspirations and political machinations of the man they know as Hong Bopei.
On Monday, a day before he was scheduled to announce his candidacy, Mr. Huntsman uploaded an image of himself and a woman he didn?t identify posing with the Dalai Lama to a photo album on his official Facebook page. A member of the International Campaign for Tibet told Agence France Presse that the photo appeared to come from the Dalai Lama?s visit to Utah in 2001.
An aide to Mr. Huntsman confirmed that the photo was taken when the candidate was serving as Utah?s governor, AFP said.
The rest of the photo album, titled ?Governor and Ambassador,? contains several images of Mr. Huntsman chatting with members of the U.S. military or posing in front of military aircraft, and only three photos ? including two of him on a bicycle in Beijing ? that obviously place him in China.
The photos in the Facebook album are offered without captions, leaving observers to guess at their meaning. But the image of Mr. Huntsman smiling and shaking hands with the Dalai Lama ? a man who gives Beijing fits ? seems clearly intended as a signal that the ex-ambassador isn?t afraid to irritate his former hosts.
That?s a message that Mr. Huntsman can be expected to hammer home repeatedly during the GOP primary as he tries to appeal to a Republican base that tends to more suspicious of China than the rest of the U.S. population, analysts say.
Despite the clear snub it represents for Beijing, the appearance of the Dalai Lama on Mr. Huntsman?s Facebook page has so far hardly registered with the Chinese press. By Tuesday evening, only the semiofficial Global Times, a nationalistic tabloid published by the Communist Party that harbors little love for the Tibetan leader, had reported the story (in Chinese), noting but not commenting on Mr. Huntsman?s efforts to appear tough on China.
Indeed, the response from Chinese media to Mr. Huntsman?s campaign as a whole has been muted.
The former ambassador?s revelation, delivered at an April 16 panel discussion on China policy in New York, that he planned to formally announce his candidacy was duly reported by several Chinese news organizations but with barely a peep of analysis from the country?s often voluble editorial writers.
Given the importance of the U.S.-China relationship to Beijing, and the potential implications for that relationship of a former ambassador becoming head honcho in Washington, the lack of commentary on Mr. Huntsman?s candidacy is curious to say the least.
Why the restraint?
One explanation could lie in the sensitivity surrounding Mr. Huntsman?s tenure in Beijing. Despite seeming to have developed a good working relationship with the country?s leaders early on, Mr. Huntsman lost much of that political capital in February after he was spotted outside a McDonald?s in Beijing where activists had urged people to start a ?Jasmine Revolution.?
The incident sparked a flurry of angry commentary and, for some time after, searches for Mr. Huntsman?s name on popular microblogging sites were blocked. With the Huntsman name thus sullied in the eyes of China?s propaganda authorities, Chinese media may be waiting for the official OK before weighing in on his campaign.
Alternately, the Chinese press might simply not be all that interested in a candidate who recently polled a distant second to Rep. Ron Paul at the Republican Leadership Conference and whose reputation as a moderate makes him a long shot to win the GOP nomination.
Indeed, to the extent that Chinese newspapers have offered analysis of the campaign, most have repeated the speculation already prevalent in U.S. media that Mr. Huntsman is running now not to win, but to raise his profile for a more serious try in 2016.
Finally, it?s possible that Mr. Huntsman?s tumultuous exit from Beijing ? which included public feuding over meetings canceled in the wake of his ?Jasmine Revolution? appearance -? has left Chinese media feeling little love for the man they?d once lauded for speaking their language.
Among the only mainstream writers to offer even the semblance of an opinion, positive or negative, on the implications for China of a Huntsman White House run was Feng Difan, who in an essay for China Business News (in Chinese) briefly pondered Mr. Huntsman?s fluent Mandarin:
?It?s worth noting, Hong Bopei?s Mandarin abilities have often been seen as an advantage in his diplomatic interactions with China,? he wrote. ?Of course, as an anonymous member of the China diplomatic scene told this reporter, being able to speak Mandarin and being able to understand China are not the same thing.?
? Josh Chin. Follow him on Twitter @joshchin
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