This worksheet aims to arouse student’s interest in learning about the opportunities and challenges
brought about by the country’s participation in international affairs, using the Sino-US foreign relations
as an example.
Source 1
Character A
From 7 to 8
June 2013,
Chinese
President Xi
Jinping met US
President
Barack Obama
in a "no necktie"
summit at the
Annenberg
Estate in
California, USA.
Character B
Source: Heng Kim Song, 2013.
Source 2
Snowden, a former employee of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and technical
sub-contractor for the US National Security Agency (NSA), had in June 2013 disclosed
in Hong Kong to the British newspaper, The Guardian, and the US newspaper,
Washington Post, confidential documents gathered under the NSA’s operative
codenamed "PRISM". The documents revealed that the NSA had been eavesdropping
on people from all over the world, including politicians of US allies and the general
public... On 23 June 2013, Snowden left Hong Kong for Moscow. Subsequently, Russia
granted him a temporary refugee status for a year.
Source: Composed from media reports, June 2013.
1.
Try to fill in the following table with the names and positions of Characters A and B in the
cartoon in Source 1:
Name
Character A
Xi Jinping
Character B
Barack Obama
Position
President of the People’s Republic of China
President of the United States of America
1
2.
With reference to Source 1 and based on your own knowledge, do the attitudes of the
American people and the US President present opportunities or challenges to China in
terms of the Sino-US relationship? Try to explain your answers.
The
Opportunity/
American
Challenge*
Public
Teachers may
remind
students to
pay attention
to the
differences
between the
protestors'
placards and
what
Character B
says.

Challenge. (According to Source 1)

Americans do not trust China. Their attitudes
are hostile. This obstructs the establishment
of cooperative relations between the two
countries.
(Other reasonable and relevant answers are acceptable.)
The US
Opportunity/
President
Challenge*

Opportunity. (According to Source 1)

US President's attitude is mild. China
and the USA can build a partnership.
(Other reasonable and relevant answers are acceptable.)
＊
3.
Please delete the inappropriate words.
According to Source 2, what is the significance of the information that Snowden has
disclosed to the whole world?
The USA has been eavesdropping on people from all over the world, including key
politicians of US allies and the general public.
4.
Referring to Source 2, try to write down what the US President in Source 1 may say.
“Relax, President XI, they are not referring to you. They are referring to the US
government/me.”
(Other reasonable and relevant answers are acceptable).
5.
In your view, how will the Snowden incident mentioned in Source 2 affect China's
participation in international affairs? Is it an opportunity or a challenge? Try to explain
your answer.

Opportunity

Challenge
2
(Opportunity) As the USA had been eavesdropping on people from all over the world,
morally speaking, it becomes difficult for them to condemn similar suspected Chinese
acts severely. So, China may face less diplomatic pressure.
(Challenge) As the USA had been eavesdropping on people from all over the world,
this has raised concerns and discontent among other countries, and these countries
will pay more attention to similar acts of other larger countries like China. This has
increased diplomatic pressure on China.
(Other reasonable and relevant answers are acceptable.)
3
In 2013, at the invitation of the presidents of Trinidad and Tobago, Costa Rica, Mexico
and the USA, Chinese President Xi Jinping paid state visits to Trinidad and Tobago, Costa
Rica and Mexico between 31 May and 6 June 2013 and on June 7, he travelled to the
Annenberg Estate in California to join US President Obama in a two-day “no necktie” summit.
This was the first time President Xi had a summit meeting with Obama and this was also
their second meeting within two years. In February 2012, Xi Jinping visited the USA as the
Vice-President and conducted a long meeting at the White House with Obama on 14 February
that year.
The summit venue this time was Sunnylands on the Annenberg Estate. This property
was built by the late publishing magnate, philanthropist and diplomat, Walter Annenberg, and
his wife, Leonore Annenberg, in the 1960s. The 200-acre holiday resort in the desert has been
redeveloped several times and is now a famous site of the American architectural and cultural
heritage for the public and has been regarded as the "Camp David West."
President Xi and President Obama discussed a wide range of bilateral, regional and
global issues and at the same time, reviewed the progress made in the Sino-US relations and
the challenges in the past four years. They also discussed how to strengthen future
cooperation, while constructively reduce the differences between the two countries.
One important issue is the US's claims of a substantial cyber invasion by Chinese
hackers of the networks of the US defence industry, involving more than 20 important leaked
secrets. The US intelligence community believed that the Chinese government was supporting
these hackers. There was outrage as the American public expressed their concerns about
China and their hostilities towards their country. When Xi met with Obama, concerns in the
USA on Internet security issues were peaking. This was a hot issue that required both heads of
states to work together to cool down.
4