Word to China: WHAT?!?

President Bush is meeting with the Dalai Lama today.

Like, I'm totally, like, "whoa", too!

But apparently, it's a big deal to China.

"We solemnly demand that the U.S. cancel the extremely wrong arrangements," said Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi in Beijing. "It seriously violates the norm of international relations and seriously wounded the feelings of the Chinese people and interfered with China's internal affairs."

Um, huh?

I hate to be the one to break it to Jiechi, but "violates" is present-tense, which is the context of this story. "Wounded" is past-tense, which shouldn't be used for an event that hasn't yet occurred, much less in the same sentence as a present-tense word that describes the same event. You also used "seriously" twice in that sentence. Once would have been just fine.

But unlike the non-binding resolution on Turkey, this equally non-binding Congressional Gold Medal is more unlikely to actually do any damage. I agree with Judy:

Judith Shapiro, a China author and professor at American University, says the visit is "not going to profoundly affect ties in either direction. China needs the U.S., the U.S. needs China, and issues like Tibet are a bit of a sideshow to the basic relationship."

Discombobulated sentences of condemnation or not, nothing will really come of this on the foreign relations front. China will still be its irksome self, and Tibet will still be controlled by an irked China.

(Underscoring the unimportance of this story, I wonder if Judith Shapiro hates being called Judy...)