Help Haiti

Clinton: Chinese human rights can’t interfere with other crises

Posted by John Malloy on Feb 22nd, 2009 and filed under International News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

 

nntv-pngnew

 

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton broached the issue of human rights with Chinese leaders on Saturday, but emphasized that the global financial slump and other international crises were more pressing and immediate priorities.

The United States will continue to press China on issues such as Tibet, Taiwan and human rights, she told reporters accompanying her.

“But our pressing on those issues can’t interfere with the global economic crisis, the global climate change crisis and the security crises,” she said.

Clinton made China the last and most crucial stopover in her Asia trip, signaling the new administration’s first attempts to lay a foundation toward a China policy. It is Clinton’s first trip to China as secretary of state. Video Watch Clinton talk to CNN about Asian tour »

She met with Chinese President Hu Jintao on Saturday and discussed the framework for further high-level and mid-level discussions.

“It is essential that the United States and China have a positive, cooperative relationship,” Clinton told a group of reporters.

Earlier Saturday, Clinton met with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao in Beijing, where they discussed what they regard as the new defining Sino-U.S. strategic goals: the world economic crisis, regional security and the environment. Video Watch report on the talks »

The United States and China are the world’s largest emitters of greenhouse gases.

Human rights, a traditional topic in discussions between the two countries, was broached during Saturday’s meeting between Clinton and Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi, who agreed to engage in a continuous discussion on the issue.

Secretary Clinton said both nations will continue to hold frank discussions on crucial human rights issues, such as Tibet and freedom of expression in China. In the past, Clinton has been an outspoken, staunch critic of China’s human rights stance.

In a welcoming response, Yang said China was willing to discuss the often-contentious subject of human rights.

“Although differences exist, China is willing to conduct the dialogues with the U.S. to push forward the human rights situation on the premise of mutual respect and noninterference in each other’s internal affairs,” Yang was quoted by China’s state-run Xinhua news agency as saying…

www.cnn.com

Categories: International News
Tags:

This website uses IntenseDebate comments, but they are not currently loaded because either your browser doesn't support JavaScript, or they didn't load fast enough.

Leave a Reply

Photo Gallery

Keeleys Pet Pals

Fight World Hunger

Fighting World Hunger

Log in / Advanced NewsPaper by Gabfire Themes