Leader-in-waiting of China calls Taiwan key to relations

WASHINGTON -- President Bush told Chinese Vice President Hu Jintao on Wednesday that he is confident the countries can resolve their differences over Taiwan and human rights, the White House said. Hu later warned publicly that any trouble on the Taiwan question could hurt U.S.-Chinese relations and vigorously defended his country's human rights record.

"Properly handling this question is the key to promoting our constructive and cooperative relations," Hu said in an evening speech. "If any trouble occurs on the Taiwan question, it would be difficult for China-U.S. relations to move forward, and a retrogression may even occur."

After Hu's 30-minute meeting with Bush earlier in the day, White House press secretary Ari Fleischer said Bush told Hu he was pleased with the state of U.S. relations with China. The two leaders discussed the war on terrorism, agricultural issues, Taiwan, missile proliferation, trade and human rights.

Getting to know Hu

Hu is widely expected to become Communist Party secretary general later this year and president next year. He is something of a mystery man, rarely straying beyond the party line, and the administration has been hoping his visit here will produce insights into his thinking.

In an evening speech to the National Committee on United States-China Relations, an umbrella group that includes pro-business groups interested in promoting U.S. business interests in China, Hu called Taiwan "the most important and sensitive issue at the heart of U.S.-Chinese relations."

And he warned that "selling sophisticated weaponry to Taiwan or upgrading U.S.-Taiwan relations" would be inconsistent with U.S. commitments and serve "neither peace and stability for the Taiwan straits, nor China-U.S. relationship and the common interests of the two countries."

China and Taiwan split amid civil war in 1949, and Beijing, which regards Taiwan as a renegade province, has threatened military action if the island declares independence.

Hu said he believed that an overwhelming majority of the Taiwanese people would eventually support the idea of peaceful reunification because they would come to believe it would benefit them.

Hu also defended China's human rights record, saying religious freedom was guaranteed by law in China. He said it had been no easy task "for a big developing country like China with a population of nearly 1.3 billion to have so considerably improved its human rights situation in such a short period of time."

'Killer' calls from crowds

About 100 protesters shouted and waved signs outside the downtown hotel where Hu was speaking Wednesday night. "Hu Jintao is a killer, Hu Jintao is a butcher," the protesters shouted through megaphones. Members of the China's banned Falun Gong spiritual group were among those in the crowd. Another 100 demonstrators stood next to the protesters holding signs welcoming Hu to the United States.

Earlier in the day, Hu left the White House without comment. Before meeting with Bush, Hu spoke with Vice President Dick Cheney, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and other U.S. officials.

Fleischer said Bush "expressed his belief that the United States and China can work well together on a wide range of issues. He noted there may be some disagreements, but he believed they could be addressed productively." Bush and Hu had met in Beijing in February.

Before the meeting, Fleischer said the president was expected to reaffirm that the administration seeks "a peaceful resolution of any differences between the People's Republic of China and Taiwan and that we do not wish to see provocation on either side of the Taiwan Strait." He listed religious freedom and human rights as other areas of disagreement with China.

Hu raised the Taiwan issue with Secretary of State Colin Powell during a working dinner at the State Department Tuesday evening. Powell reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to a one-China policy, department spokesman Richard Boucher said. Powell also reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to protection of human rights in China.

Bush is viewed as more pro-Taiwan than former President Clinton was. China reacted angrily in March when the Bush administration decided to grant a visa to Taiwan's defense chief, Tang Yiau-ming, so he could attend a conference in Florida.