U.S. ends Shanghai World Expo suspense

Urso Chappell, San Francisco, California — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 23:55:59 GMT

Now that it looks like the United States Pavilion at Expo 2010 will be a reality, it’s time to start thinking about what we do for Korea’s Expo 2012 and Italy’s Expo 2015.

Despite what the article says, it is my understanding that U.S. law only forbids STATE DEPARTMENT funds from funding a pavilion. Congress or another department, such as Commerce, can still legally fund a pavilion. The law was originally enacted to punish Spain, which was about to host Expo ‘92, for not allowing U.S. missiles on their soil (pointed at the Soviet Union).

Clearly, laws need to be changed and/or funding needs to be restored to U.S. pavilions overseas. They’re important to our national interests.

U.S. ends Shanghai World Expo suspense

Frank Lavin — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 01:31:40 GMT

Eric - Thanks for this overview which does a lot to help explain a somewhat complicated story. One point which I think needs to be fairly included is that the single most important reason why the prospects for the USA Pavilion have improved so dramatically over the past few months has been the active involvement and leadership of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Hillary Clinton has made the phone calls, convened the meetings, appointed the Commissioner General, brought together the State Dept team that pushed all of this into high gear.

As a result, we believe we will have a successful Pavilion effort, one of which all Americans can be proud.

U.S. ends Shanghai World Expo suspense

Jack, Shanghai, PRC — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 02:12:48 GMT

It's true that Chinese public might not understand. The thing is that the Chinese government essentially can take funds and use them for whatever they deem worthy. I live in Shanghai and think the CPC uses funds pretty well overall.

However, it is a good lesson for Chinese that government doesn't have free reign with funds. It is ruled by law. And, in this case, the law says that the government cannot fund expos. So for better or worse, they will not. Even with national pride at stake, the US hands are tied. It's a great lesson and one the US should be proud of.

U.S. ends Shanghai World Expo suspense

Bob Jacobson, Tucson, AZ — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 21:37:05 GMT

Eric's article basically restates what's been known for a long time regarding the difficulty of the US effort. It unfortunately ignores the problematic history of the politics behind the US effort -- including the possible breaking of US law -- and repeats the mistruth that US law forbids federal funding of Expos (a stupid assertion on its face, propagated by the Bush Administration and its successors in the current Administration). One would appreciate some serious investigative reporting after two years of trouble, not more platitudes based on pragmatics, ignoring the US efforts' fundamental deficiencies.