Bush and Hu wrestle over trade, rights<\/p>\n
Olivier Knox, Agence France-Presse\/Beijing<\/p>\n
Chinese President Hu Jintao on Sunday rebuffed U.S. President
\nGeorge W. Bush's calls to allow greater religious and political
\nfreedom but promised to show more flexibility on Sino-U.S.
\neconomic disputes.<\/p>\n
On day two of his Beijing visit, Bush took his human rights
\npitch from a church service near Tiananmen Square to a public
\nappearance with Hu, a meeting with Premier Wen Jiabao, and
\nfinally to an impromptu exchange with reporters.<\/p>\n
\"I talked about both political and religious freedom,\" the
\nU.S. president told reporters, adding that he had raised the
\nissue with Hu of political dissidents who \"we believe are
\nimproperly imprisoned.\"<\/p>\n
Bush also said he had urged Chinese leaders to discuss Tibet's
\nfate with its exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, and tried
\nto convince them they should invite Vatican leaders to discuss
\nreligious freedom.<\/p>\n
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said that Washington
\nwas complaining \"quite vociferously\" to Beijing after Chinese
\nauthorities took forceful steps to keep dissidents and activists
\nout of sight during Bush's visit.<\/p>\n
She also said that \"one has to be concerned\" over China's
\nmilitary buildup because \"there's a question of intent\" but that
\nWashington was confident of keeping the region in balance.<\/p>\n
Still, both Hu and Bush took pains to emphasize the importance
\nof U.S.-China relations, pledging after a 90-minute meeting at
\nthe Great Hall of the People to work through what Hu described as
\n\"inevitable\" tensions.<\/p>\n
As their talks got under way, Boeing signed a US$4 billion
\ndeal in Beijing to supply 70 Boeing 737 aircraft to China between
\n2006 and 2008 as part of a broader arrangement to eventually
\nsupply 150 of the 737s.<\/p>\n
\"Win-win cooperation is the mainstream of China-U.S.
\nrelations,\" said Hu, who promised to work to reduce economic
\ntensions on issues such as currency reform and China's massive
\ntrade surplus with the United States.<\/p>\n
Hu said China was \"continuously raising the level of human
\nrights\" enjoyed by its people but that progress must reflect
\n\"China's national conditions\" and that the country would have
\n\"democratic politics with Chinese characteristics.\"<\/p>\n
The two leaders said they would next meet in the United States
\nin early 2006 -- a visit that will replace Hu's planned trip in
\nSeptember, which was indefinitely postponed because of Hurricane
\nKatrina.<\/p>\n
On the economic front, Hu said Beijing would \"unswervingly
\npress ahead\" with currency reform and \"gradually\" cut its trade
\nsurplus with the United States, which was expected to run to
\nabout US$200 billion this year.<\/p>\n
U.S. officials, who have expressed frustration that similar
\npledges on economic reform in July and September have not borne
\nfruit, said much more work remained to be done on all those
\nissues.<\/p>",
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