President Bush and Chinese President Jiang Zemin met Thursday to lay out their views on such issues as North Korea and the lack of religious freedom in China, with Jiang denying the persecution of Christians and saying that he had read the Bible.
At a joint news conference after morning talks, Jiang answered a question about the detention of 50 underground Roman Catholic bishops by explaining that China’s constitution guarantees freedom of religion, and if Christians were in jail it was because they had violated laws, not because of their beliefs.
“Whatever religion people believe in, they have to abide by the law,” Jiang said, using the communist government’s logic that Christians who don’t belong to the state-run church–a requirement for believers–can face arrest.
In a rare public discussion for a Chinese leader, Jiang seemed to suggest that he has nothing against religion, saying that while he is an atheist, he still has an interest in religion.
“I’ve read the Bible. I’ve also read the Koran, as well as the scriptures of Buddhism. I often have meetings with the religious leaders in this country.”
Bush’s visit to Beijing is designed to focus on the issues that sometimes bring the U.S. and China together but otherwise create tension in the relationship, including Taiwan, human rights and cooperation in the war against terrorism.
Bush said he told Jiang he was “deeply concerned” about the North Korean regime, which he has grouped with Iran and Iraq into an “axis of evil.” But he said he asked Jiang’s help to convey to North Korean leader Kim Jong Il that he was willing to meet with the Pyongyang leadership.
“If [Jiang] speaks to the leader of North Korea, he can assure him that I am sincere in my desire to have our folks meet,” Bush said.
Bush and Jiang said the Chinese president had agreed to visit Bush in October, ahead of the APEC summit in Mexico.
Bush’s visit to the Chinese capital comes 30 years after President Richard Nixon arrived to re-engage the Chinese and at a moment when the two countries’ relations are unusually stable.
U.S. and Chinese flags flew in front of Mao Tse-tung’s portrait on the Gate of Heavenly Peace at Tiananmen Square–adjacent to the Great Hall of the People, where Bush was welcomed Thursday.
Missile tech a high priority
High on Bush’s agenda with China is preventing the sale of missile and nuclear technology to nations such as Iran and Pakistan. The two leaders hoped to complete an agreement on the issue during their meetings in Beijing, a senior White House official said Thursday.
Under a deal being worked out, China would meet U.S. demands to publish a list of items prohibited from export and enforce the ban if the administration agreed to lift sanctions barring U.S. companies from launching satellites on Chinese rockets.
Despite the prickly differences that have become a regular part of their relationship, the U.S. and China have come together in the fight against terrorism and in their wish to see China become a more open and active trading partner.
“I haven’t seen things as stable as they are right now in quite a while,” one senior Bush administration official said.
“There’s always going to be a bit of up and down,” the official said, “but I think the Chinese want to ensure that the downs don’t go too low, and they see cooperating with us on terrorism as a good way to start in that direction.”
China has previously hinted at a willingness to work with Bush when, at Bush’s behest, it recently released Li Guangqiang, a Hong Kong businessman jailed for smuggling Bibles into China. Beijing also has been careful not to criticize Bush for characterizing Iran, Iraq and North Korea as an “axis of evil,” even though China maintains relations with all three nations.
Bush, in turn, has softened his rhetoric toward China considerably since taking office. As a candidate, Bush charged that China was not a partner but a “strategic competitor” with the United States. And he alarmed the Chinese government last year when he said America would do whatever it takes to protect Taiwan.
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Angry about jailings
Bush has chastised the Chinese government in the past for cracking down on religious groups, most notably its jailing of Catholic bishops. And one administration official said the White House suspects that China is using its own fight against terrorists “as an excuse to crack down on dissent.”
But when he was asked whether he would meet with Christian activists or other political dissidents while in China, Bush said he was uncertain what was on his schedule.
“I can tell you that in my last visit with President Jiang I shared with him my faith,” Bush said. “I talked to him on very personal terms about my Christian beliefs.
“I explained to him that faith had an incredibly important part in my life, and it has a very important part in the lives of all kinds of citizens,” Bush said, “and that I would hope that he, as a president of a great nation, would understand the important role of religion in an individual’s life.”
Bates Gill of the Brookings Institution said the relationship between China and the United States remains fragile and that their mutual suspicions are likely to continue.