Clinton chides China over rights, detained activist

Nov 11, 2011, 6:18 GMT

Honolulu, Hawaii - China must improve its human rights record as part of its efforts to become more integrated into the global economy, US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said on Thursday.

'We are alarmed by recent incidents in Tibet of young people lighting themselves on fire in desperate acts of protest, as well as the continued house arrest of the Chinese lawyer Chen Guangcheng,' Clinton said.

'When we see reports of lawyers, artists and others who are detained or 'disappeared,' the United States speaks up both publicly and privately,' she said in Honolulu, Hawai, ahead of a weekend summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC).

Chen is a blind legal activist who is detained under strict house arrest. In a recent open letter, his wife said police had beaten and tortured the couple since Chen was released after four years in prison in September 2010.

Clinton was also referring to a spate of self-immolation protests against the Chinese government by young Tibetans, most of them current or former Buddhist monks or nuns.

She said US officials would 'continue to call on China to embrace a different path' in its protection of human rights.

US companies also wanted China to provide a 'level playing field for competition' by eliminating regulatory and other non-tariff barriers, Clinton said.

China and the US must cooperate to guarantee 'strong, sustained, and balanced future global growth,' she said.

She said China 'must allow its currency to appreciate more rapidly,' echoing calls by US businesses who insist that China's renminbi is deliberately undervalued to make the nation's exports cheaper.

Clinton met Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi late Thursday and was scheduled to attend talks on Saturday between US President Barack Obama and his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao.

Hu arrived in Honolulu on Thursday amid a second day of protest by up to 100 members of the Falun Gong spiritual group.

The protesters included Falun Gong members from Taiwan, South Korea, Japan and the United States. They said they wanted to highlight China's brutal crackdown on the group since it was banned in 1999.

Hu and Obama are among 21 APEC leaders, who are scheduled to hold a summit on Saturday and Sunday, after their foreign and trade ministers hold planned meetings Friday.

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