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The wrong side of history

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James Reynolds | 08:24 UK time, Wednesday, 21 January 2009

Bad news for President Obama. The one country which may decide America's future prosperity was largely asleep when he took the oath of office. The framers of the US Constitution didn't have a peak time Chinese TV audience in mind when they drew up the presidential inauguration time (12 noon Washington DC time is 1am China time).

Chinese girl in front of Obama portraitThat means that most people in China only got their first look at Mr Obama's inaugural address when they woke up on Wednesday morning. That's where it gets interesting. We've some Chinese state media outlets have left out some important passages of the president's address.

Even those who stayed up late at night would have noticed something odd. Have a look at the that Chinese state TV cut back to the presenter when Mr Obama referred to communism.

This is one of the passages that hasn't made it into the Chinese translations of the address: "To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history"

This passage is strikingly similar to by one of Mr Obama's predecessors: "When it comes to human rights and religious freedom, China remains on the wrong side of history" (President Bill Clinton, June 1998).

"The wrong side of history" - apparently not a phrase the Chinese authorities like to hear.

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