2014-03-31 17:07 China Daily Web Editor: Yao Lan

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US First Lady Michelle Obama (C) and her daughters Malia (L) and Sasha visit the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall in Beijing, capital of China, March 23, 2014. (Xinhua/Ding Lin)

How much Michelle Obama"s China trip cost？

You can see a video of First Lady Michelle Obama playing ping-pong in China, hear her talk about the importance of studying abroad and view a of picture of her huddling with her daughters with the Great Wall Of China snaking into the distance. What you won"t see, however, is a disclosure of how much her week-long trip in China cost.  [Special coverage]

The White House has a longstanding policy—that stretches back decades—of not commenting on the costs of trips taken by first ladies, vice presidents and presidents.

"We don"t discuss costs," said Brian Leary, a spokesman for the U.S. Secret Service in a brief telephone interview. And in a pre-trip briefing for reporters, White House deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes said "As a general matter, we don"t disclose the details associated with the security of either the President or the First Lady. This question comes up on many trips."

Whenever the president and first lady travel, reporters generally ask about the cost and generally don"t get an answer. The reason given: security. If the White House or Secret Service tells the public how much a trip costs an enterprising person might be able to determine exactly what sort of security protections are used.

The last major report on the costs of presidential travel came in 1999, when the Government Accountability Office tallied up (or at least, tried to) the cost of President Bill Clinton"s trips to Africa, Chile and China. To arrive at the numbers below, the GAO said it compiled information from the multiple agencies involved in the trip and did some calculations about hourly flight costs for the various military planes and helicopters involved in the trek, among other things.

Here are some interesting facts from that report:

-Mr. Clinton"s weeklong trek in China cost $18 million; his 12-day trip across Africa cost $43 million and his five-day sojourn in Chile cost $10.5 million.

-More than 500 personnel from the departments of Defense, State and Treasury helped support the trip to China.

-For each trip, officials from a variety of agencies travel to the country three times before the president arrives to deal with logistics and map out security plans.

-The bulk of the costs from the trips are for aircraft, such as Air Force One and other military support planes/helicopters.

-The total costs don"t include the expenses of the U.S. Secret Service. Their costs are classified, which means the actual cost of the trip is likely higher since they"re the main force protecting the president.

Steve Ellis, a spokesman for the government watchdog group Taxpayers for Common Sense, said after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks it has been even harder to find out the costs of presidential travel.

That hasn"t stopped people from trying to estimate the expenses. In 2010, Mr. Obama went to India for several days and the White House had to bat away a report, first published in an Indian newspaper, that the trip was costing $200 million a day.

The White House said that number was wildly exaggerated, but still didn"t provide details about the actual expenses.

Mr. Ellis said it would make sense for the administration to release trip expenses after the president returns. "We"re not saying that the president or the first lady shouldn"t travel," he said, but taxpayers deserve to know the cost.

In 2010, the public-interest group Judicial Watch caused a stir when it reported that Mrs. Obama"s vacation to Spain cost taxpayers about $450,000. Judicial Watch got the numbers after filing Freedom of Information Act requests with the Air Force and U.S. Secret Service.

About half the costs were related to travel expenses and the first lady (and president and vice president) don"t get to choose how they travel, the Secret Service does. That means if the first lady or president goes somewhere, even if on vacation, they take military aircraft instead of jumping on civilian aircraft. That helps explain why the costs are generally high.

Among the more trivial costs listed in the documents: $57.68 for four bottles of maple syrup and a package of pancake mix purchased by the flight crew.

米歇爾訪華花費知多少？

據《華爾街日報》報道，你看到美國第一夫人米歇爾·奧巴馬在中國打乒乓球的颯爽英姿，聽到她侃侃而談出國留學的重要意義，也看得到她手挽愛女在蜿蜒曲折的長城前合影留念，卻無從得知她此行花費幾何。

多年來，白宮一直沒有公開披露總統，第一夫人及副總統的出訪開支。

「我們不談開支問題，」美國特勤局發言人布萊恩·利里在接受簡短電話採訪時說。在出訪前的吹風會上，白宮副國家安全顧問羅茲說：「通常來講，我們不會披露總統或第一夫人安全方面的細節。多次出訪都會有人提出這個問題。」

每次總統和第一夫人出訪時，都會有記者詢問開支問題，不過往往也得不到答案。對此，白宮振振有詞：為了安全起見。如果白宮和特勤局公開了出訪開支，那麼別有用心的人可能會從中推測出安保級別。

美國上一次公開總統出訪費用還是在1999年，當時政府問責局計算出時任總統柯林頓出訪非洲，智利和中國的費用。為了得出下列數據，總審計局匯總了參與出訪的多個機構的信息，並計算了出訪時所搭乘的軍機和直升機每小時的飛行成本。

以下是報告中部分有意思的數據：

柯林頓訪華一周花費1800萬美金，12天的非洲之行花費4300萬美金，在智利為期5天的訪問耗資1050萬美金。

美國國防部，國務院和財政部共500多名員工為柯林頓訪華之旅提供各種支持和服務。

每次總統出訪前，政府各部門官員都要前往目的地3次，為的是安排行程並制定安保計劃。

大部分開支用于飛機，如「空軍一號」及其他軍機或直升機。

美國特勤局的開支未包括在內。因為這部分開支屬於國家機密，這就意味著總統出訪的總開支可能會更高。

政府監督組織「納稅人常識」的發言人埃利斯稱，在2001年「9·11」恐怖襲擊之後，總統出訪開支變得越發難以查得。

即便如此也阻擋不了人們對總統出訪開支的估算。奧巴馬曾在2010年出訪印度數日，一篇最初刊登在印度一家報紙上的報道稱，奧巴馬此行平均每天花費兩億美元。這令白宮恨不得讓這份報道立即消失。

白宮回應稱這一數據言過其實，不過還是沒有公開費用明細。

埃利斯認為美國政府有必要在總統出訪歸國後公開費用明細。「我們不是不讓總統及第一夫人出訪，」他說，「只是作為納稅人我們有權了解這一情況。」

2010年，名叫「司法觀察」的公益組織引發了一場軒然大波。起因是「司法觀察」報道了米歇爾在西班牙度假期間花了納稅人大概45萬美金。該組織根據《信息自由法》向美國空軍和特勤局遞交申請後得到了這一數據。

約有一半的費用與旅遊開支有關。第一夫人（以及總統，副總統）的出行方式不是由他們自己而是由特勤局決定。這表明如果總統或第一夫人出訪某地，包括度假，搭乘的是軍用飛機而非民用客機。因此，高昂的開支也就不足為奇了。

這其中也包括部分瑣碎的開支：由機組人員購買的4瓶楓糖漿和1包薄餅，共計57.68美金。

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