The Clinton-Key Encounter and The Elephant in the Room. 5 November 2010

Prime Minister John Key and American Secretary of State Hilary Clinton sit facing one another across a table as an enormous dragon representing China rears up behind them. The title reads 'The Clinton-Key encounter and the elephant in the room'. The encounter took place when Hilary Clinton visited New Zealand in early November; the two signed the 'Wellington Declaration that 'formalises a new strategic partnership between the two countries, commits to regular meetings at foreign minister level, working together on trade and holding annual military talks'. Refers on the one hand to the free trade deals that are so important to New Zealand and that, thanks to a trading partnership signed in 2008, means that New Zealand now sells to China in seven hours what it used to sell in all of 1972. Refers on the other hand to the sovereignty disputes over the Spratly and Paracel island chains, which are potentially rich in natural resources, have pitted China against some of its neighbors, including Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and the Philippines. Clinton said the United States and every other nation "has a national interest in freedom of navigation, open access to Asia's maritime commons, and respect for international law in the South China Sea," which contains some of the busiest commercial sea lanes in the world and so she says the Obama administration wants claimants to pursue their disputes in accordance with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea rather than through coercion. (America.gov - 23 July 2010)

Quantity: 1 digital cartoon(s).