President Obama is in China this week for the first time since he took office in January. The largely symbolic trip included a "town hall" meeting with Chinese youth at the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum, where Obama encouraged the next generation of industry leaders and politicians to engage openly with the United States in the future. Josh Gerstein of Politico, meanwhile, suggests that if Obama really wanted to address Chinese dissidents, he should have traveled to smaller cities, where blue-collar workers are far more likely to desire change.

But that doesn't make Obama's speech worthless. After all, he's not trying to start a revolution in the countryside, Che Guevera-style; he's trying to make his voice heard. And the best way to do that, of course, is to go where the cameras will be sure to follow.

"The notion that we must be adversaries is not predestined," Obama said to the students, after reminding them of an ancient proverb from their own culture: Consider the past and you shall know the future.

While Obama directly addressed the issue of censorship, he spoke around the controversy of human rights abuses that many Westerners routinely protest. But he did address it, if obliquely. Stating that America has no interest in imposing its system of government on any other country, he was quick to add that he does not believe American values are exclusive to America.

"We don't believe that the principles that we stand for are unique to our nation," he said. "These freedoms of expression and worship, of access to information and political participation, we believe are universal rights. They should be available to all people, including ethnic and religious minorities - whether they are in the United States, China or any nation."

His speech may have been diplomatic, but it was indisputably pointed. It's doubtful that anyone in that audience failed to hear the subtext in Obama's words: Stop being tyrants to your own people and start recognizing the work we can accomplish together to make this world a more prosperous, peaceful place. In other words, come on.

Obama ended his speech with a simple wish: that in the future, America and China will continue the dialogue going forward. Let's hope the students take his plea to heart.

[Image: Xinhua for The Hindu]