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.