Pelosi opens up US-Syrian high-level dialogue

Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic speaker of the US House of Representatives, became the highest ranking US official to visit Syria upon her arrival in its capital of Damascus Tuesday. Her Syria trip has drawn repeated objections and opposition from the White House, and was termed as a "really bad idea." President George W. Bush, in his press briefing on Tuesday rapped Pelosi's trip to Syria as one of sending "mixed signals" to Syria and the whole Middle-East region. In response, Pelosi said she thought it was a very "good idea"to visit Syrians. Either Pelosi's Syria trip or her "rival show" staged versus president Bush has drawn extensive attention from all strata globally.

On this top issue of global concern, Chen Yiming, the desk editor of international news for the People's Daily, a leading, authorative official newspaper in China, has had a dialogue with a couple of senior PD resident reporters stationed overseas, including Li Wenyun, Wu Wenbin, Yang Jun and Huang Peizhao. And the detailed account of the dialogue is as follows:

"Iron Lady's obstinate, persistent trip to Syria angers US president

Desk Editor: Why is that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's Syria trip has angered both the White House and President Bush and drawn their repeated criticism?

Li Wenyun (Senior PD resident reporter in the US): Ever since the launch of the Iraq war five years ago, the Bush administration has accused the Iraqi government of allowing alien armed personnel to sneak into Iraq again to engage with an alliance force led by the U.S., and charged Syria with an attempt to sabotage the Lebanese government, back terrorist organizations and shelter al-Qaeda elements; Syria has long been "expelled" from the international community and the U.S. refused to have any dialogue with President Bashar Assad. So Pelosi was lambasted fiercely even before she embarked on her Middle East tour.

Desk Editor: Whey did Pelosi still go ahead to visit Syria with a bipartisan delegation despite repeated criticisms by White House and President Bush himself?

Li Wenyun: This is Nancy Pelosi's first trip to the Middle East since her assumption as the US House Speaker, and she had traveled to Israel and Lebanon prior to her arrival in Syria. In her meeting with press in Beirut on April 2, she said the involvement of Syria was vital to the settlement of some issues in the Middle East and, in Damascus, she set forth a number of important guideline gists with respect to the war on terror and institution of an international tribunal on the assassination of the slain former Lebanese leader Rafiq al Hariri. Moreover, she urged, Syria could play a role relevant to the Iraq issue and other Middle East issues.

House Speaker Pelosi's "rival show" versus President Bush, in fact, implies a great diversity between US Congress and the Bush government on the Lebanese issue and a host of other thorny issues in the Mideast as well as a disaccord and even antagonism between the US executive and legislative bodies after the mid-term elections in the U.S. last year.

Syria honors Pelosi with hospitality, and she returns it with courtesy

Desk Editor: Though President Bush cited Syria as a nation to back terrorism Wednesday, Pelosi still posed for pictures with President Bashar Assad and held talks with him, which enabled the Syrian government to regard itself as part of the main-stream international society. On the following day, Pelosi again conferred with President Bashar Assad and other Syrian officials. Then, how all social strata in Syria look at Pelosi's visit and how her visit and talks proceeded as a whole?

Wu Wenbin and Yang Jun (PD reporters in Syria): The Syrian side attached great heed to Pelosi's visit. Right upon her arrival in Damascus, she was arranged to pay a brief visit to the Umayya Mosque with a 500-year-old history and the El-Hamidiyeh Souk market in its old city proper. Pelosi hooded her head with a silk scarf to show her due respect for Islamism. And she joyously tasted a kind of sweet local food at the El-Hamidiyeh Souk Market amid a prevailing friendly, harmonious atmosphere.

On Wednesday morning, Pelosi had an in-depth and candid discussion with President Bashar Assad regarding the Iraq issue and the topics on Lebanon, Palestine, and Syria-Israel peace talks. During these talks, President Assad reiterated his willingness or readiness to resolve the Syria-US disparities via dialogue and negotiation, and regarded the settlement of regional disputes through peaceful means as the strategic choice of his country.

Huang Peizhao (PD resident reporter in Egypt): Some netizens of Arab nations offered a wide range of views and comments on their websites in favor of Pelosi's tour of the old city, El-Hamidiyeh Souk Market in Damascus, and the Umayya Mosque, both symbols alive with the old, longstanding Arab culture, which indicate her proximity for the age-old Syrian culture.

With affirmation for Pelosi's trip, Arab nations aspire for "dominioes"

Desk Editor: In spite of some occasional criticisms, are there also voices of support for Pelosi's trip?

Li Wenyun: There are indeed voices in her favor. In their interview with CNN, those American analysts, who favored Pelosi's visit to the Middle East, noted that the US should contact Syria and other Mideast nations and such contact would definitely not harm its foreign policy. The question people should really mull over is precisely not whether "it is right or wrong for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to visit Syria" but the issue "why the US president and the secretary of state had not visited Syria".

After the start of President Bush's second-term office at the White House, many Americans very much want the US government to "fade" its uni-polarity hues or "colors," particularly the adoption of more realistic, feasible policy on the Middle East issue. To their dismal, the US government backed up Israel in its war against Lebanon and pursued a new, more adventurist policy.

To date, the United States has not yet justified its unreasonable war in Iraq, and many Americans look to their government to bring forth a feasible plan at quickly as possible to cope with the Iraq issue and pull out their troops at an earlier date.

Desk Editor: Pelosi's Syrian trip is now over, and how people from various walks of life in Syria and other Arab nations appraise this visit?

Wu Wenbin and Yang Jun: They have given a very positive appraisal of Pelosi's Middle East trip. Elias Murad, editor of the ruling party's of Al-Baath Newspaper, noted that Pelosi's trip has affirmed the positive role of Syria in a certain sense. Former Syrian Information Minister Mahdi also said Pelosi's trip indicated the policy of the Bush Administration with its attempt to isolate Syria was in a total bankruptcy, and the Syrian-US relations are developing toward a correct orientation.

Huang Peizhao: On a whole, the Arab nations have followed Pelosi's Middle East trip with great interest. Apart from their timely coverage and follow-up reports on her bustling activities, many newspapers have written a host of analytical articles and relevant commentaries, with implications that the visit, designed to do away with the White House-imposed diplomatic sanctions on Syria, will possibly give rise to the benign effect of dominioes and touch off follow-up visits by leaders of the related EU organizations.

Egypt's semi-official newspaper, Al Ahran, said in its Wednesday editorial titled "An Vital, Important Message from Pelosi's Trip" noted the Democrats in the U.S. intend to inflict a "balanced return" of the US diplomacy. Whether the present US government admits or not, Syria pays a due role not to be reckoned in Iraq, or in Lebanon and other Mideast affairs, the editorial said. So, dialogue with Syria is beneficial and very crucial.

Desk Editor: What attainments are expected to be scored for US-Syrian ties in the wake of Pelosi's Syria trip?

Wu Wenbin and Yang Jun: Pelosi's Syria trip has opened the gate for high-level dialogue between Syria and the U.S. The thawing of Syrian-US ties, which had been frozen for years, cannot be accomplished overnight nevertheless, and both sides still have much difference to cope with on regional hot issues. While affirming the positive significance of Pelosi's trip to his country, Syrian Ambassador to Washington, Dr. Imad Moustapha, said that either Democrats or Republicans in the US Congress share, as a matter of fact, an identical or similar mode of thinking.

By People's Daily Online