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