Visiting US President Barack Obama stressed the US’ belief in fundamental human rights to his host, Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤), yesterday, but the two sides acknowledged differences over the thorny issue.
“I spoke to President Hu about America’s bedrock beliefs that all men and women possess certain fundamental human rights,” Obama told journalists following the two leader’s summit as the Chinese president looked on.
“We do not believe these principles are unique to America, but rather they are universal rights and that they should be available to all peoples, to all ethnic and religious minorities,” he said.
Obama, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize last month, has been criticized by rights groups for downplaying the rights issue to secure Chinese support in addressing the global financial recovery and terrorism.
A joint statement issued after their talks suggested little if any progress was made on the rights issue during the leaders’ discussions.
“Both sides recognized that the United States and China have differences on the issue of human rights,” the statement said.
However, it added that the two sides agreed to resume a human rights dialogue in Washington before the end of February.
“We will continue to act in the spirit of equality, mutual respect, and ... non-interference in each other’s internal affairs, and engage in dialogue and exchanges on such issues as human rights and religion in order to enhance understanding, reduce differences and broaden common ground,” Hu said.
Obama has also taken flak for avoiding an encounter with the Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama last month in Washington so as not to upset Beijing before his high-stakes debut visit in China.
Obama called for the resumption of on-again, off-again talks between Beijing and representatives of the Dalai Lama over Tibet’s status, while recognizing that the region is a part of China.
On Monday, during a town hall-like meeting with youths in Shanghai, Obama insisted that the US would always speak out for its core principles.
“These freedoms of expression and worship — of access to information and political participation — we believe are universal rights,” Obama told the students.
“They should be available to all people, including ethnic and religious minorities — whether they are in the United States, China, or any nation,” he said.
Although his statements were carried widely on the Internet, China’s state-controlled press largely avoided all mention of the rights issue, instead focusing on other aspects of the visit.
Speaking yesterday during a visit to Italy, the Dalai Lama said he appreciated Obama’s appeal to Chinese leaders to hold talks with him over the situation in Tibet.
However, the exiled Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leader said he realized that “limits” existed beyond which the US was not able to express itself on the Tibetan issue, ANSA news agency reported.
The Dalai Lama made the remarks as he met local authorities in the northeastern city of Bolzano.
The CIA has a message for Chinese government officials worried about their place in Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) government: Come work with us. The agency released two Mandarin-language videos on social media on Thursday inviting disgruntled officials to contact the CIA. The recruitment videos posted on YouTube and X racked up more than 5 million views combined in their first day. The outreach comes as CIA Director John Ratcliffe has vowed to boost the agency’s use of intelligence from human sources and its focus on China, which has recently targeted US officials with its own espionage operations. The videos are “aimed at
STEADFAST FRIEND: The bills encourage increased Taiwan-US engagement and address China’s distortion of UN Resolution 2758 to isolate Taiwan internationally The Presidential Office yesterday thanked the US House of Representatives for unanimously passing two Taiwan-related bills highlighting its solid support for Taiwan’s democracy and global participation, and for deepening bilateral relations. One of the bills, the Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act, requires the US Department of State to periodically review its guidelines for engagement with Taiwan, and report to the US Congress on the guidelines and plans to lift self-imposed limitations on US-Taiwan engagement. The other bill is the Taiwan International Solidarity Act, which clarifies that UN Resolution 2758 does not address the issue of the representation of Taiwan or its people in
SHIFT: Taiwan’s better-than-expected first-quarter GDP and signs of weakness in the US have driven global capital back to emerging markets, the central bank head said The central bank yesterday blamed market speculation for the steep rise in the local currency, and urged exporters and financial institutions to stay calm and stop panic sell-offs to avoid hurting their own profitability. The nation’s top monetary policymaker said that it would step in, if necessary, to maintain order and stability in the foreign exchange market. The remarks came as the NT dollar yesterday closed up NT$0.919 to NT$30.145 against the US dollar in Taipei trading, after rising as high as NT$29.59 in intraday trading. The local currency has surged 5.85 percent against the greenback over the past two sessions, central
US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo on Friday expressed concern over the rate at which China is diversifying its military exercises, the Financial Times (FT) reported on Saturday. “The rates of change on the depth and breadth of their exercises is the one non-linear effect that I’ve seen in the last year that wakes me up at night or keeps me up at night,” Paparo was quoted by FT as saying while attending the annual Sedona Forum at the McCain Institute in Arizona. Paparo also expressed concern over the speed with which China was expanding its military. While the US
RSS