MCLC: Farewell, Gary Locke

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: kirk (denton.2 at osu.edu)
Subject: Farewell, Gary Locke
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Source: Sinosphere blog, NYT (2/28/14):
http://sinosphere.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/02/28/a-parting-shot-at-u-s-ambass
ador-inspired-by-mao/

A Parting Shot at U.S. Ambassador, Inspired by Mao
By MICHAEL FORSYTHE

The departing United States ambassador, Gary F. Locke, gave afarewell news
conference in Beijing on Thursday, at which he praised the deepening
economic ties between the world’s two biggest economies and urged China
and Japan to cool down escalating tensions over a territorial dispute.

His carefully chosen words were not well received by the state-run China
News Service. Following Mr. Locke’s remarks, it published a scathing
review <http://www.chinanews.com/gn/2014/02-27/5892576.shtml> of his
tenure modeled after a famous August 1949 essay by Mao Zedong, “Farewell,
Leighton Stuart 
<http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/selected-works/volume-4/mswv
4_67.htm>," slamming the last American ambassador under the collapsing
Nationalist government in Nanjing.

“Farewell, Gary Locke" departs from the almost wonkish critique of United
States foreign policy offered up by Mao, opting instead for an extended
comparison of Mr. Locke, a Chinese-American, to a banana.

“Gary Locke is a U.S.-born, third-generation Chinese-American, and his
being a banana — ‘yellow skin and white heart’ — became an advantage for
Obama’s foreign policy,’’ opened the commentary, written by a person
identified as Wang Ping. (Many Asian-Americans consider “banana” an
offensive term.)

“However,” the commentary continued, “after a while, a banana will
inevitably start to rot."

The “rot" included Mr. Locke’s trips to restive regions of Tibet and
Xinjiang, in China’s far west, which stirred an “evil wind," the
commentary continued. Like other essayists with a nationalist bent, Wang
Ping also took aim at Mr. Locke’s portrayal as a humble person who carried
his own bag and flew economy class. Such gestures, which the commentary
cast as insincere, were broadcast widely on China’s social media when Mr.
Locke first arrived in Beijing in 2011 and won him admiration from many
Chinese, who couldn’t imagine their own officials abandoning their
privileges.

Mr. Locke, in his remarks Thursday at the United States Embassy, said that
he was proud of his Chinese heritage and that had visited his ancestral
home in the southern province of Guangdong three times as ambassador. “But
I’m thoroughly American and proud of the great values that America has
brought to the entire world and all that America stands for,’’ he told
reporters.

Mr. Locke’s successor is Max Baucus, a longtime United States senator from
Montana who was chairman of the Senate Finance Committee.
The China News Service commentary also referred disparagingly to Mr.
Locke’s dealings with the blind legal activist Chen Guangcheng, who sought
shelter in the American embassy after escaping house arrest in 2012,
calling him Mr. Chen’s “guide dog.” Mr. Chen was subsequently allowed to
travel to the United States.

“When Gary Locke arrived, the skies in Beijing became hazy," the
commentary said. “When he left, the skies suddenly became blue."