Obama 'Impresses' Students

Students handpicked from Chinese universities discuss U.S. President Barack Obama's town hall meeting.

AFP

A student asks a question of U.S. President Barack Obama during a town hall meeting in Shanghai, Nov. 16, 2009.

SHANGHAI—Top Chinese students selected to attend a meeting with visiting U.S. President Barack Obama said they were impressed with his frank and friendly style, and hoped his trip would herald a new era in Sino-U.S. ties.

Drawn from some of Shanghai's most prestigious universities, including Fudan University and the Shanghai Communications University, they filed into the state-of-the-art Science and Technology Museum to fire a series of carefully vetted questions at the U.S. leader on the first full day of his Nov. 15-18 state visit.

"His speech was excellent," Jiaotong University student Zhang Xiaoju said.

"I was most impressed by his narration about how he had built up his high quality which we can see now while he was in college. This is particularly useful to us.”

Obama answered a total of eight questions from the 500 audience members, in an event that was hosted by Fudan University president Yang Yuliang and broadcast live on local and national television.

Internet issues

The key politically sensitive topic came in answer to a question on Internet censorship.

His comments opposing it were promptly censored from the live Internet feed and translation of his speech for Chinese netizens.

Zhang said she agreed with his call for free use of the Internet to build stronger democracies.

"From his point of view, I think what he said was quite correct," she said.

But she declined to comment on how his views might apply to China.

"Each country has its own national situation, and therefore this question should be dealt with in different ways," she said.

"The United States is a highly developed country and China is just a developing country. We still have a long way to go," she added.

Universal values

Another student, Wang Zhengyu from Fudan University, said he had learned a lot from the encounter.

"I have personally experienced the sincerity President Obama brought with him on his China visit. He earnestly wishes to strengthen the mutual understanding between our two peoples, especially the youth of the two nations," Wang said.

"Based on this understanding, he hopes to further the development of China-U.S. bilateral relations," Wang said.

"I felt the most appealing part was his call for all nations to respect the universal value that includes efforts to promote the happiness of common people," said Wang, who was among a hand-picked group of around 100 students from Fudan.

Another student who attended, carrying a publicity poster for the event, said:

"I wanted to ask a question but I wasn't able to... I am interested in his personal experience, and also his views on cultural exchange."

Others said they appreciated Obama's easy style in fielding questions.

"It seems to me after hearing him talk on a number of topics that Sino-U.S. relations will continue to develop, and that there will also be more exchange programs for students in the future," another student said.

"I wanted to ask him his views on the success of China's reform and opening up," she said.