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Thanks, taxpayers! Globetrotting Michelle Obama announces luxurious vacation to China

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Fresh off the first family’s sixth annual winter vacation to the Hawaiian island of Oahu — billed to American taxpayers at a cost of $4 million — Michelle Obama and the first daughters Malia and Sasha will now jet off to China for over a week of much-needed sightseeing.

President Barack Obama won’t be making the trip.

But don’t worry, America: The first lady’s mother, Marian Robinson, will be tagging along on the federal dime.

The theme of the March 19-26 trip will be education, reports the Chicago Tribune. The first lady and her entourage will spend several days in Beijing before venturing to the cities of Xian and Chengdu.

Naturally, the Obama family and its accompanying retinue will take in several cultural and historical sites. They will also stop by high schools in both Beijing and Chengdu.

The first lady will meet with Peng Liyuan, the second and current wife of Xi Jinping, the president of China and the general secretary of the country’s Communist Party.

Liyuan is also an allegedly popular folk singer in China. Here she is, according to YouTube, singing “To See Liberation for All Oppressed People.”

As the Daily Mail observes, the Obamas have spent a tremendous amount of taxpayer money globetrotting in luxury all over the world.

For example, Judicial Watch discovered that the couple  racked up an $11 million tab on travel to South Africa to attend Nelson Mandela’s funeral in December 2013.

Amazingly, the presidential pair was on the ground for fewer than 13 hours.

An earlier trip by the president and the first lady to Africa cost Americans in excess of $100 million. There was a Navy aircraft carrier cruising the waters off the coast of the continent, of course. There was a fleet of over 50 vehicles just for the American contingent. There were 14 limousines. There were trucks hauling bulletproof glass around from hotel to hotel.

In June, notes the Mail, Michelle Obama felt compelled to go to Ireland for two days. She stayed at a $3,300-per-night hotel in Dublin. The total cost of her taxpayer-funded trip was $5 million.

Other vacations the jet-setting Obamas took in 2013 included a multimillion-dollar trip to Martha’s Vineyard.

Obama also took an August trip to California to meet with Democratic mega-fundraiser Jeffrey Katzenberg and appear on “The Tonight Show.” That jaunt cost Americans $2 million.

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