The quiet handling of Cook’s visa denial this month revived concerns about Obama’s approach to issues of religious freedom in China.
“The lack of reaction from the administration to the visa denial goes to show how important the issue is to the administration. There’s been no outrage, no statement from the White House,” said Joseph Grieboski, founder of the Institute on Religion and Public Policy.
Protesters sympathetic to several Chinese causes, including Tibet, massed around the White House, where U.S. officials were meeting with Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping. One protester, in a suit and tie, was arrested. (Feb. 14)
Controversy over the visa decision is likely to displease Chinese officials, who have worked for months to plan a heavily scripted visit crucial to Xi’s ascent to China’s presidency next year. No news conferences with Xi are planned during his visit to the United States this week. And Chinese officials have been careful to avoid several groups protesting his visit.
Instead, Xi spent Tuesday in closed meetings at the White House, the Pentagon and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
Cook, in a transcribed State Department interview on Jan. 23, confirmed her plans to go to China. On Feb. 3, she met with leaders from ethnic, religious and nongovernmental organizations to hear their suggestions about how to press their concerns during the trip.
According to several people present at the meeting, Cook heard from leaders of the Tibetan movement, Falun Gong, Uighurs and supporters of Christian evangelicals who worship at unregistered, house-based churches.
Also present was Rashad Hussain, Obama’s special envoy to the Organization of the Islamic Conference. Cook and Hussain talked to the group about the possibility of traveling to Xinjiang, a politically sensitive region of China currently under lockdown by the government following unrest among Muslim Uighurs.
On the eve of her trip, still with no visa, Cook held a conference call asking advice from three religious leaders sent to China in 1998 by President Bill Clinton: Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, Rabbi Arthur Schneier and Don Argue, a Christian religious-freedom advocate.
Several activists urged Cook to go to China even if no officials would meet with her, saying she could visit with university students or worship in one of the banned churches. That became a moot point once Chinese officials told her staff that “it’s not a convenient time to come,” according to the religious rights advocates.
Diplomats in Cook’s position have encountered problems before, but denying a visa to a sitting U.S. ambassador represents one of China’s strongest rebuffs to date, experts say.
Tom Farr, who served under the previous two administrations as director of the office now run by Cook, said he visited China in March 2001. “After the Bush White House issued a report on human rights, all my appointments got canceled, but not my visa,” he said.
Staff writers Dan Zak and David Nakamura contributed to this report.
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