US President George W. Bush met prominent Chinese activists on Tuesday at the White House, a move designed to send a reassuring message to human rights groups upset that the president is going next week to Beijing to watch the Olympic Games.
The White House identified the five as Harry Wu (吳弘達), Wei Jingsheng (魏京生), Rebiya Kadeer, Sasha Gong (龔小夏) and Bob Fu (傅希秋).
White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said Bush held the talks to “discuss his concerns about human rights in China” and to promise that he would carry those concerns to Beijing.
While in Beijing, he is to meet with Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) and other officials along with attending the Olympics.
Bush also saw Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi (楊潔篪) on Tuesday, while Yang was at the White House meeting national security adviser Stephen Hadley.
Bush told Yang of his view that the Olympics present China with an opportunity to demonstrate compassion on human rights and freedom, Perino said.
“Engagement with Chinese leaders gives him an opportunity to make the United States’ position clear: Human rights and religious freedom should not be denied to anyone,” Perino said.
She said the group of activists urged Bush to deliver his message not only to Chinese leaders but to the people of China.
Hadley appeared with Yang later at the Woodrow Wilson Center, a Washington think tank.
Yang also met US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Monday. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said they talked about the Olympics, North Korea, Japan and trade.
Bush leaves on Monday for a trip that includes stops in South Korea and Thailand before he attends the opening ceremonies and first few days of the Aug. 8 to Aug. 24 Beijing Olympics.
Human rights groups had urged Bush to boycott the opening ceremonies.
Bush argues the Olympics are a sporting event not to be politicized and the president always raises human and religious rights with Chinese officials in the appropriate context.
Wei is one of China’s best-known dissidents, a democracy activist who spent 17 years in prison in China for calling for political reform.
Bob Fu heads the China Aid Association, a Texas-based Christian rights group.
Harry Wu, executive director of the Laogai Research Foundation, is known for his campaign to expose abuses in labor camps.
Rebiya Kadeer served six years in prison before going into exile and is an outspoken critic of Beijing’s oppression of Uighurs.
Sasha Gong is a writer and political activist who spent seven years in the 1970s working in a Chinese factory.
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