President George W. Bush said on Friday he expected Americans detained by the Chinese to be treated fairly.
"Our relations with China are relations that are going to be based upon a consistent message," Bush told a White House news conference. "One, we expect there to be trade ... but, two, we expect people to be treated fairly inside that country."
The US has urged China to free four academics, including two US citizens, who have been detained over the past five months.
"We sent clear signals to the Chinese that we expect our citizens that have been detained ... that we expect for them to be treated fairly and we'd like for them to have whatever due process the Chinese can offer," Bush said. "We have expressed our concerns. Sometimes they listen, sometimes they don't."
The US has repeatedly raised the case of the two American citizens, Li Shaomin (
The detentions are among a number of recent diplomatic disputes that have soured US-Sino relations, including the 11-day standoff over a crew of a US surveillance plane that made an emergency landing in China after a mid-air collision with a Chinese fighter jet.
Meanwhile, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said that the US needs to flex its political muscle and get tougher with China.
"We've got to straighten up and fly right about who's in charge of the US' foreign policy, and I don't want it to be Beijing," said Senator Jesse Helms, a Republican from North Carolina.
Helms acknowledged that the US did take a "little firm stand" when it negotiated the release of the EP3-E crew.
"It's perfectly outrageous the way China is pushing us around, and ... some way, somehow, it's got to stop," Helms said on a CNN program which was scheduled to air yesterday.
When it comes to Taiwan, Helms said he disagrees with the Bush administration's support for a "one China" policy.
Bush last month confirmed his support for the policy, but only after saying in a television interview that he would use "whatever it took to help Taiwan defend herself," including the full force of the American military. He later backed off the reference to direct military force.
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