US presidential candidates prepare for final debate
With candidates now neck and neck, the two candidates go head to head on foreign policy
Barack Obama and Mitt Romney spent the weekend hammering out their foreign policy battle lines ahead of their third presidential debate, their final chance to lay out policy platforms and engage in verbal jousting in front of tens of millions of TV viewers.
Romney is tied at 47 per cent with President Obama in an NBC News/ Wall Street Journal poll released yesterday.
With both sides conceding that the race to November 6 will go down to the wire, and amid a consensus that each candidate won one of the previous two debates, the stakes for Monday's clash (Tuesday morning 9am Hong Kong time) are enormous.
The 90-minute debate, on foreign policy, will be divided into six segments: America's role in the world; the war in Afghanistan; Israel and Iran; the changing Middle East; terrorism; and China's rise.
From accusations of unfair trade practices to a discussion of whether it is proper for the candidates to have investments in Chinese companies, the word "China" came up 22 times in the second debate. This time around, with one segment earmarked for the country's rise, harsh anti-Chinese sentiments are likely to be expressed by both candidates.
And just as they study up on the particulars, The New York Times reported a possible breakthrough on talks with Iran - a report quickly squelched by the White House. Tehran also denied it yesterday.