On press access in China: today was not the first time that the Chinese did not allow questions in bilat with US president. In '09, Hu Jintao did not allow questions in a "joint press statement" with Obama. #thread
The Obama WH was ultimately embarrassed and looked weak. Years later aides brought up to me how burned they felt by @helenecooper story in which she called visit "minutely stage-managed" by Chinese.
Obama learned: never again in three successive summits with Chinese leaders did they not successfully demand Hu or Xi take a question, incl in '14 trip to Beijing. WH reporters saw aides negotiating intensely on that trip.
That set up one of the most memorable moments I've had in six years covering WH: When Obama called on @MarkLandler who challenged Xi in the Great Hall of the People on why he was slow-walking visas to foreign jounos incl NYT over critical coverage.
Mood, initially celebratory over climate deal announcement, turned dark. Obama tried to diffuse tension with joke about how press is always hard on him too.
Xi wasn't in joking mood. He lashed out, insisting that the foreign press should “obey China’s laws” and look at themselves “to see where the problem lies.” washingtonpost.com/world/a-tale-o…
Later, Obama aides told us the Chinese were angered by the episode. They claimed the agreement had been a US reporter would ask Obama a question and a Chinese (state media) reporter would ask one of Xi.
I was reflecting on this the other day while reporting this story about whether Trump would raise press freedoms and free speech with Xi. Twitter is banned in China. google.com/amp/s/www.wash…
In talking with Rebecca MacKinnon, a former reporter in Beijing and now at New America think tank, she sent me a transcript from Obama's 2009 town hall in China hosted by Amb. John Huntsman.
That town hall with young people, an Obama staple on foreign trips, drew criticism that the Chinese had planted questions and didn't broadcast it live.
But looking at the transcript is revealing in 2017. Huntsman took a question from a Chinese netizen who asked: "Should we be able to use Twitter freely?"
Here is Obama's answer: 
Even on a trip in which Obama had been stage-managed, a new president who had never tweeted stood up for free expression in an authoritarian country; today, a new president who has boasted he's the most-followed politician on social media said nary a word. #end
