Bush urges China to extend religious and political freedoms

US PRESIDENT George W Bush pressed China yesterday to expand religious, political and social freedoms and won renewed promises - but no concrete actions - from Chinese President Hu Jintao.

Mr Hu said the two leaders sought an outcome of “mutual benefit and win-win results.”

But their meeting at the Great Hall of the People, on the edge of Tiananmen Square, appeared to produce no breakthroughs on US demands for currency reforms in China and no details about how China would cut its trade surplus with the US, on track to hit $200 billion this year.

Mr Bush’s two-day China stop - his third as president to the communist giant - was the centrepiece of a week-long Asia tour.

Appearing before reporters at his hotel, Mr Bush rejected the notion that it is unpatriotic to disagree with him.

“People should feel comfortable about expressing their opinions about Iraq,” he said. “This is not an issue of who is patriotic and who is not patriotic. It’s an issue of an honest open debate about the way forward in Iraq.”

A Chinese crackdown on dissidents before Mr Bush arrived dismayed US officials and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the US side would continue to raise the issue “quite vociferously with the Chinese government.”

She also expressed disappointment with China’s response to a US request in September for action on specific human rights cases.

Mr Bush said he pressed Mr Hu for fairer treatment of non-governmental charity organisations and suggested the Chinese invite the Dalai Lama and Roman Catholic leaders to China to discuss religious freedom.

Mr Bush’s first public event during his visit was a worship service at Gangwashi Church, one of five officially recognised Protestant churches in Beijing.

“It is important that social, political and religious freedoms grow in China,” the president said at Mr Hu’s side.