With polls showing a tightening race in Pennsylvania, Senator Barack Obama appeared on CBS this morning and was asked about China. The Senator offered some criticism of Beijing, but CandidateWatch believes he didn’t go far enough in presenting proposals that would support of American manufacturing. Here’s the relevant transcript:

HARRY SMITH: …in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, where the candidate had harsh words for America’s fastest growing economic rival.

OBAMA: I am a strong believer in free trade, but I think that we have not been very savvy negotiators when it comes to China. I think they’ve played us. They definitely are stealing our intellectual property, and that has direct consequences in terms of the bottom lines for businesses here in the United States.

SMITH: …and there is concern about China’s violations of human rights.

SMITH: Should we be a full participant in the Olympic games?

OBAMA: I’m of two minds about this. On the one hand, I think that what’s happened in Tibet, China’s support of the Sudanese government in Darfur, is a real problem. I’m hesitant to make the Olympics a site of political protest because I think it’s partly about bringing the world together.

CandidateWatch suggests a more direct answer—one that all the candidates should give: “China cheats, but I won’t let them get away with it any more. China dumps products, subsidizes its manufacturing, and artificially manipulates its currency—all in violation of world trade law. As president, I will strongly enforce existing U.S. trade law to halt the downward spiral of American manufacturing.”

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 2nd, 2008 at 12:21 pm and is filed under Holding China Accountable. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.