Battle to regain reputation

Two countries as different from each other as possible, yet both struggling to regain there reputations for being great nations. At the heart of the matter for both the US and China is one of the biggest PR wars they have ever had to wage...

USA
The domestic PR war over Iraq is about to begin in earnest.
When the war in Iraq did not progress as quickly as the Administration had hoped, President Bush resisted comparisons with Vietnam. In 2005, he said, "I don't see the parallels."
But as this discretionary war has dragged on and on, he has relented. Almost a year ago, he conceded in an interview that the escalation of violence last October might be comparable to the Tet offensive, which marked a turning point in Vietnam.
Wednesday Bush is going one step further.
In a speech to the VFW Missouri, Bush will argue that Iraq is like Vietnam ... but unlike Vietnam, we shouldn't pull out because our departure won't stop the killing. (Reminder: he did not serve in Vietnam.)
In other words: let's think of Iraq like a mulligan, a do-over: we caused a bloodbath by leaving Vietnam so if we don't leave Iraq, there won't be a bloodbath.

Read the story Bush Compares Iraq With Vietnam; PR Battle Begins

China
China has launched a new campaign to restore international trust in its products with a weeklong television series defending the country's safety standards.
The new television campaign titled "Believe in Made in China" follows discoveries of high levels of chemicals and toxins in a range of Chinese exports from toys to toothpaste and fish.
The first program in the series aired Sunday on China Central Television's economic channel and featured the head of a quality watchdog criticising the recent furor over the quality of Chinese exports as "demonising" China's products.
"Personally, I believe it is new trend in trade protectionism. Although recalls are necessary, it is unfair to decide that all products made in China are unqualified," Li Changjiang, director of China's General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, said on the 90-minute segment.

Read the rest of China's tainted-products scandal gets PR makeover