Foreign Pool Report on the U.S.-Vietnam Bilateral Meeting

White House Press Office	Thu, Jul 25, 2013 at 1:17 PM
To: Ching-Yi Chang
From: Ching-Yi Chang Sent: Thursday, July 25, 2013 1:11 PM Subject: Foreign Pool Report on the U.S.-Vietnam Bilateral Meeting   The U.S. President Obama and Vietnam President Truong Tan Sang’s bilateral meeting in the Oval Office is actually longer than expected. It started at 10:15 AM ET, and ended around 11:30 AM. President Obama was actually scheduled to leave the White House to Florida at 11:30 AM, while your foreign pooler entered the Oval Office exactly at 11:30 AM.    During President Obama’s fourth bilateral meeting in the Oval Office with ASEAN leaders this year along (he met the leaders from Brunei, Singapore and Burma previously), he touched upon the issues of TPP, South China Sea, human rights, war legacy, Vietnamese American population, and, surprisingly, a story on the letter that Ho Chi Minh to Harry Truman.     In his about 8 minutes remark, President Obama started with saying, “Obviously we all recognize the extraordinary, complex history between the United States and Vietnam. But step by step, what we have been able to establish is a degree of mutual respect and trust that has allowed us now to announce a comprehensive partnership between our two countries that will allow even greater cooperation.” The cooperation, President Obama said, are from “trade and commerce to military-to-military cooperation, to multilateral work.” The first issue President Obama brought up is TPP, on which he said, “we're committed to the ambitious goal of completing this agreement before the end of the year.”   The second issue is the thorny issue of the territorial dispute on South China Sea, President Obama said, “we very much appreciate Vietnam's commitment to working with ASEAN and the East Asia Summit in order for us to arrive at codes of conduct that will help to resolve these issues peacefully and fairly.” He then briefly talked about the human rights issue, saying that “all of us have to respect issues like freedom of expression, freedom of religion, freedom of assembly.” He then moved on to war legacy and Vietnamese American population. President Obama then concluded his remark with a copy of a letter sent by Ho Chi Minh to Harry Truman that President Sang shared with him. In the letter, he said, “Ho Chi Minh talks about his interest in cooperation with the United States. And President Sang indicated that even if it's 67 years later, it's good that we're still making progress.”    Then it came to President Sang’s remark, it lasted about 8 minutes as well. It’s the first time for him to visit the White House, the second time visiting the U.S., he visited Hawaii in 2011 for APEC summit.    President Sang said they discussed political relations, science and technology, education, defense, the legacy of the war issue, environment, the Vietnamese American community, and human rights issue. On TPP, President Sang said, “the Vietnamese side will do its utmost in order to participate in the process of negotiations for the conclusion of TPP by the end of this year.” He then spend some time of American Vietnamese population here, he said he wants to convey a message to them that, “we would like to see you contributing more and more to the friendship between our two countries, as well as further development of our relationship in the future.” Then President Sang turned his attention to the “East Sea” (the way Vietnamese calls South China Sea), in which, he said, “we welcome the United States' support, as well as other countries' support, in the matter, in order to ensure peace, stability, prosperity not only in the East Sea but also in the Asia-Pacific and the world at large.” And finally, there seems to be some “lost in translation”.    President Sang’s interpreter first said, President Sang invited President Obama to Vietnam, and “President Obama has accepted the invitation and will try his best to pay a visit at least before the end of his term. Then President Sang corrected that by saying, “I would like to correct my translation a little bit, and President Obama has accepted our invitation and will try his best to pay a visit to Vietnam during this term”.And that concluded both Presidents’ remarks. A reporter tried to shout a question, but President Obama didn’t answer, and your pooler accidentally heard President Obama told President Sang, “reporters are the same everywhere!” In addition, your foreign pooler saw in the Oval Office new NSC advisor Susan Rice, new USTR representative Mike Froman, and new Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker. On Vietnam side, Vietnam Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh, Head of the Presidential Office Dao Viet Trung, as well as Minister of Industry and Trade Vu Huy Hoang were in the meeting as well.It is worth noting that, President Sang just visited Beijing last month.      Lastly, in order to show appreciation by finishing reading this pool report, your foreign pooler wants to say “Thank You” in Vietnamese--Cám ơn! (Gam Uhn) Best regards, Ching-Yi Chang White House Correspondent Phoenix TV

Foreign Pool - Luncheon in the Department of State

White House Press Office	Tue, Feb 14, 2012 at 7:12 PM
Reply-To: White House Press Office  To: Ching-Yi Chang
From: Ching-Yi Chang Sent: Tuesday, February 14, 2012 07:05 PM Subject: Foreign Pool - Luncheon in the Department of State   At the luncheon hosted by U.S. Vice President Biden and Sec. Clinton in the State Department, both Mr. Biden and China's Vice President Xi talked very candidly.  Mrs. Clinton gave the remark first, she mentioned the significance of Mr. Xi's visit. The same month 40 years ago, President Nixon made a historic visit to China. And now, she said, "we are both committed to building a lasting framework of trust that will support a cooperative partnership for the next 40 years and beyond."  Then, Mr. Biden gave a roughly 17 minutes remark, he first gave his thoughts on the U.S.-China relations. "Mr. Vice President (Xi), even as our cooperation grows, as we've discussed, the United States and China will continue to compete. And as Americans, we welcome competition. It's part of our DNA, and it propels our citizens to rise to the challenge. But cooperation, as you and I have spoken about, can only be mutually beneficial if the game is fair." Mr. Biden revealed a few detail during their three meetings this morning. The economic issues they discussed are: the need to rebalance the global economy, to protect intellectual property rights and trade secrets, to address China's undervalued exchange rate, to level the competitive playing field, to prevent the forced transfer of technology. On security issues, Mr. Biden first talked about the veto of U.N. resolution on Syria, "we saw this in the recent U.N. Security Council debate about Syria, where we strongly disagreed with China and Russia's veto of a resolution against the unconscionable violence being perpetrated by the Assad regime." And then, Mr. Biden said other issues were on the agenda as well: North Korea, Iran, Sudan, South Asia, maritime security, cyber security, nuclear security, climate change and the cooperation between two militaries.  And he also didn't forgot to mention human rights issue, which he said, "we see our advocacy for human rights as a fundamental aspect of our foreign policy and, we believe, a key to the prosperity and stability of all societies. We have been clear about our concern of the areas in which, from our perspective, conditions in China have deteriorated and about the plight of several very prominent individuals." With that, Mr. Xi responded in front of about 200 guests, "Of course, there is always room for improvement when it comes to human rights. Given China's huge population, considerable regional diversity and uneven development, we are still faced with many challenges improving people's livelihood and advancing human rights," Mr. Xi emphasized that, "the Chinese government will always put people's interests first and take seriously people's aspirations and demands. We will, in the light of China's national conditions, continue to take concrete and effective policies and measures to promote social fairness, justice and harmony, and push forward China's cause of human rights." On China-U.S. relation, Mr. Xi did bring up a whole new concept called, "a new type of cooperative partnership between two major countries." In his definition, "China is the world's largest developing country, while the United States is the largest developed country. To build a new type of cooperative partnership between two countries like ours is a pioneering endeavor with great and far-reaching significance. There is no precedent for us to follow, and no ready experience for us to refer to." On the solution, he used Deng Xiaoping's, Sec. Clinton's and even a pop song's words to describe, "Mr. Deng Xiaoping said, cross the river by feeling the stones; or what Secretary Clinton once quoted, when confronted by mountains, one finds a way through, when blocked by a river, one finds a way to bridge to the other side. A Chinese pop song goes like this: May I ask where the road is? It is under your feet." Well, Mr. Biden gave a Chinese lesson as well when he talked about how to truly understand a country, "as you know, there's an old Chinese saying: Better to travel 10,000 miles than read 10,000 books." Last but not least, please allow your Mandarin speaking pooler gives a little Chinese lesson as well. "Xi" pronunciates pretty much like "C" with longer "I" vowel, so it sounds like "Cee" rather than "Shee" or "Zee". However, the pronunciation of "Jinping" is very close to Mandarin. Now you know a very useful way to pronunciate "Thank You" in Chinese--Xie Xie!         Ching-Yi Chang White House Correspondent Hong Kong Phoenix Satellite TV

Foreign Pool - U.S. President Obama's meeting with China Vice President Xi

White House Press Office	Tue, Feb 14, 2012 at 4:08 PM
Reply-To: White House Press Office To: Ching-Yi Chang
From: Ching-Yi Chang Sent: Tuesday, February 14, 2012 3:39 PM To: Allen, Elizabeth M.; Dudley, Amy Subject: Foreign Pool - U.S. President Obama's meeting with China Vice President Xi President Obama's meeting with China's Vice President Xi's meeting is a significant one. As told previously by the White House official, this is the first meeting between them, and also, as told by other White House correspondents, the President rarely has a pool spray at the top of the meeting between him and a vice or deputy foreign leader. And this is a longer than usual pool spray, which lasted for almost 14 minutes. (including the time for translation) Mr. Obama gave a remark first, and then following by Mr. Xi's remark. Both wear light blue ties, and sat somewhat casually. Both looked at each other when the counterpart spoke, while when Mr. Xi gave remark he often looked at Mr. Obama directly, when Mr. Obama talked, he usually look at the poolers. Mr. Obama's tone was pretty in line as what he said to Chinese leaders: the U.S. "welcomes China's peaceful rise," and again, he wants China to play by the rules, "we want to work with China to make sure that everybody is working by the same rules of the road when it comes to the world economic system." Mr. Obama did directly mentioned about China's human rights issue to Mr. Xi, while only a few words: "we will continue to emphasize what we believe is the importance of recognizing the aspirations and rights of all people. "  At that time, Mr. Xi didn't respond to that. (but he did mention about the human rights issue in China during the lunch in the Department of State) As mentioned, although as an heir apparent, Mr. Xi's current position is the Vice President in China. But unlike Vice President Biden, Mr. Xi's ranking in Chinese political system right now is about No.4 to No.6. So the very first remark he made is that, "first of all, I'd like to convey the sincere greetings from President Hu Jintao, the National People's Congress Chairman Wu Banguo, and Premier Wen Jaibao." It shows his carefulness.  He mentioned about the meeting between him and Mr. Biden, and he didn't reveal much, "I've had a set of large and small talks with Vice President Biden.  He and I had an extensive, candid, and in-depth exchange of views on the bilateral relationship and international and regional issues of shared interest." Still, he said, "the Vice President and I reached some new consensus." A little correction to Mr. Obama's address. Since Mr. Xi will leave D.C. for Iowa tomorrow afternoon, so Mr. Obama wished he enjoys his trip, and said, "I know you'll be visiting Iowa, where you visited many years ago when you were 'governor'. " In reality, while Mr. Xi visited Iowa in 1985, he was a local party official of Hebei Province, as well as the director of the Feed Association of Shi jiazhaung prefecture. Ching-Yi Chang White House Correspondent Hong Kong Phoenix Satellite TV

Foreign Pool - Greeting, Feast, and Luau

White House Press Office	Sun, Nov 13, 2011 at 3:01 AM
Reply-To: White House Press Office  To: Ching-Yi Chang
From: Ching-Yi Chang Sent: Sunday, November 13, 2011 2:57 AM Subject: Foreign Pool - Greeting, Feast, and Luau Tonight’s APEC leaders arrival ceremony, dinner toast, and reception performance went well as planned. A few interesting observations from your foreign pooler today. During the arrival ceremony, unexpectedly, the leader of Chinese Taipei (Taiwan), Lien Chan, came out first. Although the tensions between China and Taiwan is eased for recent three years, and both sides even signed the FTA called ECFA; however, due to America’s one China policy, Taiwan has limited access to the regional organizations, APEC is one of them, so the arrangement to have Mr. Lien came out first might have its special political implication by the POTUS. According to an anonymous source told the pooler, the arrangement is to help pro-China party in Taiwan wins the presidential election next year.   Also, during the arrival, leaders can have their translators joining the brief conversations with the POTUS and FLOTUS. But only when China’s President Hu came out from the gate, the POTUS first time asked his own translator, who speaks amazingly fluent Mandarin with Beijing accent, come to join the conversation, so there were two translators when the POTUS greeted Chinese leader. The detail shows that the POTUS manages even detailed issue with China carefully.  And during the dinner toast, the POTUS sat next to Vietnamese and Singaporean leaders. Singapore is the one and only Southeast Asian country that has signed the FTA with the U.S. for almost a decade. Now it’s one of the negotiation members in TPP. Later on, during the reception performance, Singaporean PM, Lee Hsien Loong, again sat next to the POTUS to watch “Luau”. The POTUS did give an indirect explanation before Luau that two years ago, it was announced in Singapore that the U.S. would hold  the APEC Summit in 2011. On the other hand, Vietnam is one of the TPP negotiation member as well, though it faces many hurdles to join the “high standard FTA”, TPP.   Although Russia sets to hold the 2012 APEC Summit, Russia President Medvedev was assigned to sit at the other end of a different table during the dinner, and he sat next to Chinese President Hu. One more thing, although Mr. Hu and Mr. Lien did have a meeting yesterday, the fourth time they met during APEC Summits, but they weren't arranged to sit together, instead, Mr. Lien was arranged to sit next to the Chief Executive of Hong Kong, Donald Tsang. Ching-Yi Chang White House Correspondent Hong Kong Phoenix Satellite TV

Foreign Pool - Bilateral between U.S. and China

White House Press Office	Sat, Nov 12, 2011 at 10:25 PM
Reply-To: White House Press Office To: Ching-Yi Chang
From: Ching-Yi Chang Sent: Saturday, November 12, 2011 10:16 PM Subject: Foreign Pool - Bilateral between U.S. and China   Before the bilateral meeting between the U.S. President Obama and Chinese Pesident Hu, Secreatry Clinton and Assistant Secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Campbell were waiting outside the meeting room while the POTUS concluding the bilateral meeting with Russian President Medvedev. They weren’t spotted by pooler during the U.S.-Japan bilateral meeting. At the top of the bilateral meeting between China and the U.S., both leaders talking with poolers for about ten minutes. President Hu wears black suit, red tie and glasses with red frame. Economic and security issues are the main focus for both leaders during the remark. The POTUS said at the top that two countries are the largest in the world, the cooperation is vital not only for Americans’ security but also vital to the world, and such cooperation is “particular important to the Asia Pacific region”, for two countries are both “the Pacific powers”. And President Hu replied that “the region should become the region of active cooperation between China and the U.S.“   As the POTUS mentioned to the Russian previously, he expressed the concern about Iran again, but got no direct response from the Chinese President.    On the economic front, the POTUS talked about the issue of “rebalance” again, which implies faster pace of strengthening Renminbi. During yesterday’s gaggle, the White House official said the issue would be raised by the POTUS during  today’s bilateral. China currency has appreciated versus the USD for about 40% within five years, and Sec. Geither even said during the APEC financial ministerial meeting that, Chinese Yuan has appreciated more than 10% in the past year (including the inflation factor), while the Obama administration insists that the Chinese currency is “significant undervalued” according to many independent analysts. And the POTUS criticized China during today's CEO Summit that China is not playing by the rule in the case of RMB. President Hu said, the world economy is growing uncertain and instable, so it’s important for two sides “to increase their communication and coordination”. After the remarks, they shook hands for photographers to shoot longer than previous bilateral meetings. This is actually the ninth time they met.   Ching-Yi Chang White House Correspondent Hong Kong Phoenix Satellite TV

NBC Nightly News

The last day while I worked as an news intern for NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams, and they taped this for me, and I was the only one intern at that time had such a privilege (I guess I just worked too hard). I love NBC Nightly News!!!

Arab Monopolies

"When the world pays full attention to China, China is paying its attention to the Middle East."

This is the beginning my introduction to Arab Monopolies, a Japan's bestseller, and its Chinese version just launched in November, 2009.

Isn't China looking at the U.S.? Yes, it is.

But China in reality is not trying to compete with the U.S. but with itself, as it always does for thousands of years.

By 2027, Goldman Sachs predicts, China will be the largest economy in the world, and then the U.S. should never surpass China. Until 2050, China's economy will be twice than America's. The energy that fuels China's future growth is largely staying beneath the ground of the Middle East - petroleum.

In 2009, according to the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security, 58% of China's oil is from the Middle East, and in just five more years, the proportion will rise to 70%.

If China matters to you in your future, so does the Middle East. Don't overlook it.

My First Book!

My first book, a Chinese translation of Go Green, Live Rich - a NYT's Bestseller - is going to be launched on Jan. 22, 2009!

After having my name appeared on newspaper headlines, magazine covers - now I have my name on a book!

The theme of the book is simple: by going green, you can make a fortune, too! It's the latest book written by David Bach, the author of The Automatic Millionaire. The site of Go Green, Live Rich is here.

The Chinese version is recommend, amazingly, by the president of Uni-president, Ching-Yuen Kao (高清愿), and his corporation can be seen as the Greater China's Kraft, which is huge! He rarely recommends any book for years...

Some links about my first book are here:

http://www.books.com.tw/exep/prod/booksfile.php?item=0010424602

http://www.kingstone.com.tw/Book/Book_Page.asp?ActId=future&LID=1109&KMCode=2014210011266

http://www.book4u.com.tw/book_Detail.asp?goods_ser=kk0225605

Let's Go Green, Live Rich!!!

My Clips Broadcasted in the US

"My voice is heard though out the United States!" I shouted out loud when the piece that I helped out was broadcasted on NBC Nightly News. I still remember how thrilled I was!

The links of the clips that I participated in producing shown below:

1. "Making a difference", China Rising series:
http://video.msn.com/video.aspx?mkt=en-US&brand=msnbc&vid=b8e4b0ee-85b9-4ac5-87d9-8fe1b36e0982

2. “Trading Briefcases for Diaper Bags”, the African American Women series:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/21996110#21996110

Also, I assisted in investigating into “9/11 Commission Report” for NBC News Investigative Unit. The result is on: http://deepbackground.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/01/30/624314.aspx

Why I'm scared of strawberries from Greenland

The summer in 2007, I interned at the UN for a conference about climate change, which makes me more devoted to the environmental issues. After that, I not only covered a news series on how to go green on World Journal Weekly for 5 weeks, but even right now I am translating a go green book into Chinese. And the following is the article that I wrote for The Washington Square News, the NYU student paper, right after the conference.

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Why I'm scared of strawberries from Greenland
by Ching-Yi Chang (Sept. 20, 2007)

There are now potato plantations in Greenland.
"It is foreseen that Greenland can grow strawberries soon," the Greenland prime minister recently said. "It is a good thing for Greenland."
However, not much else is good about it. The Greenland ice sheet has rapidly shrunk as the average Arctic temperature increased to twice the global average in the past 100 years.
The opposite end of the Earth is no better. The Antarctic Ocean is too full to absorb carbon dioxide - our largest carbon trap is packed. And since carbon dioxide is the major anthropogenic greenhouse gas, if we can't reduce carbon dioxide emissions, our world will become warmer. Warmer isn't better for frigid countries like Greenland, not to mention coastal and crowded cities like New York that are vulnerable to rising sea levels.
Over the past century, the Earth's mean temperature has risen 1.35 degrees Fahrenheit. By the end of this century, the mean temperature will soar upward by as much as 9 degrees, according to a 2007 study by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, composed of about 2,000 scientists.
Much of the foreseeable chaos cannot be gauged with a thermometer. Environmental disasters make food and water scarce, and the ensuing migration of people could engender the outbreak of disease and war. Some call the Darfur tragedy the first climate change war because of its origins in decades of drought.
It is no wonder, then, that the U.N. Security Council recently recognized climate change as not only an environmental issue, but as a threat to global security. The French even called it "the number one threat to mankind."
In Midtown, world leaders from nongovernmental organizations and the public and private sectors convened at the U.N. headquarters to voice their concerns about climate change.
The conference's declaration will be an important reference for this December's U.N. conference on climate change in Bali, Indonesia. A new global climate change agreement is needed by 2009 to replace the Kyoto Protocol before it expires in 2012.
Among the 2,500 participants, 400 were students - 72 of whom were student journalists from five continents. They will inform student communities worldwide that climate change is the toughest issue our generation must confront; our generation will experience firsthand the effects of climate change, after all.
Climate change is not only a challenge to our very existence, but a challenge to our future. We can move to any city to pursue our dreams, but we can't leave the Earth.
In 1932, The New York Times warned us in a headline, "Next Great Deluge Forecast by Science: Melting Polar Ice Caps to Raise the Level of Seas and Flood the Continents."
But before 1968, no government paid attention to the issue of climate change. It wasn't until 2005 that the Kyoto Protocol finally took effect. However, the U.S. - responsible for 25 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions - is still not one of the 160 signing countries.
How long has it taken most countries to decide to tackle the issue of climate change? 73 years.
Yet it remains unclear whether or not the Kyoto Protocol will be decidedly effective in changing the course of global warming without U.S. participation.
We cannot afford to wait for today's leaders to determine our future. Act today. Act now. The world is in our hands.
The United Nations may have the will, the countries may have the technology, the entrepreneurs may have economies to deal with the current situation. But all we need is one important person to change the world: You.
One issue had a constant presence at the conference: Together we can make a difference. Everyone's individual effort can make a huge difference. After all, we have prevented ozone depletion.
So what to do now? Easy: Plant trees and change your lifestyle. Pay $57 to plant 11 trees and maintain them for 70 years - that will help you offset your personal carbon dioxide emissions. If you drive, plant more.
You know more than you may think about preventing climate change: Drive less, recycle, use low energy light bulbs and act globally but shop locally. A head of lettuce from California that traveled 3,000 miles to New York consumes 40 times its caloric value to produce and ship.
Some critics improperly dismiss climate change as a conspiracy for developed countries to suffocate developing countries' growth, that all the talk about climate change is just brainwashing, that we can't prevent it anyway.
In any case, for your health, your wallet and your future, do something if you can.
For our future, let's act together now.