Lawmakers urge Bush to press Hu on rights, trade, security

AFP

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US lawmakers had a long list of concerns for President George W. Bush to raise during his summit with Chinese President Hu Jintao, from the yawning US trade gap to human rights.

Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid urged the president to use the upcoming visit of Chinese President Hu Jintao to change the administrations China policy on trade, human rights and especially security issues.

"It is essential that President Hus visit produce real and lasting progress on ending the nuclear weapons ambitions of Iran and North Korea and reducing tensions with Taiwan," Reid said in a statement this week.

"Chinas apparent opposition to UN Security Council action against Iran raises serious concerns and highlights the need for sustained Presidential leadership on your part to break this dangerous impasse," he said.

Reid also called for the president to seek greater pressure from China on North Koreas over its nuclear weapons ambitions.

Democratic US Senator Chuck Schumer hailed the visit for creating "an opportunity for growth in our relationship with China" in the business domain.

"However, the Bush administration should not lose sight of the need to press the Chinese for real change on currency manipulation, intellectual property protection, and the ability of American firms to operate more freely in China," said Schumer, who traveled to China last month for meetings with Chinese officials on currency reform.

Democratic senator Dianne Feinstein urged the president to raise the case of Jude Shao, a US citizen who has served eight years of a sixteen-year sentence in Shanghais Qingpu Prison on charges of tax evasion and fraud.

"In 2003, six prominent Chinese legal experts reviewed Mr Shaos case and concluded that not only was there insufficient evidence to convict Mr Shao, but according to Chinese law, Mr. Shao was entitled to a retrial," she wrote in a letter to Bush this week.

Feinstein said Shao, who maintains his innocence, should be released so that he can be treated for a heart condition.

Meanwhile, a bipartisan group of 27 members of Congress sent a letter Wednesday to President Hu Jintao calling for the Chinese government to stop the alleged practice of harvesting organs from condemned Chinese prisoners.

"I urge the Chinese to abide by international medical and ethical norms and immediately stop harvesting organs from executed prisoners," said Senator Sam Brownback, one of the lawmakers signing the letter.

He said data from Chinas Health Ministry shows that there have been over 65,000 such organ removals in China since 1993, mostly from Chinese prisoners.

"I know of no other country in the world that has such a policy," Brownback said.

"I have heard reports that executions are being scheduled based on the demand for organs, rather than based on the status of the prisoners case. This practice challenges many international human rights norms," Brownback said.

He also called on Bush to raise other human rights issues "like the treatment of North Korean refugees, ongoing religious persecution of Chinese citizens, and the legal protection and rights of prisoners of conscience such as Hao Wu and Dr Yang Jianli, and many others."

The Republican chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Richard Lugar, noting that energy issues were high on the two leaders' agenda, said in a statement that legislation he introduced last month would forge a cooperative energy agreement with China.

Meanwhile, an opinion piece in the Los Angeles Times newspaper Thursday by top House of Representatives Democrat Nancy Pelosi questioned the wisdom of a visit from "a leader whose government brutally crushes freedom, democracy and the religious expression of the Chinese and Tibetan people."

"This is the same regime that provides military technologies to countries that threaten international security, including Iran and North Korea," Pelosi wrote in the daily.

"While open dialogue is essential, many of us on both sides of the aisle in Congress oppose the celebratory nature of this official visit," Pelosi said.

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Source: "AFP".