Obama, Hu Respond To Human Rights Questions

During a lengthy joint press conference at the White House on Wednesday, President Obama told reporters that he has discussed China’s alleged human rights abuses several times with his counterpart, President Hu Jintao, and said it will not impede the growing relationship between the U.S. and China.

Longer quote from Obama: “Occasionally, they are a source of tension between our two governments.  But what I believed is the same thing that I think seven previous Presidents have believed, which is, is that we can engage and discuss these issues in a frank and candid way, focus on those areas where we agree, while acknowledging there are going to be areas where we disagree.” Obama added that China has made positive strides over the last 30 years, since the two nations agreed to restart relations.

President Hu, speaking with the aide of a translator, did not respond to the first question on human rights, asked by the Associated Press’ Ben Feller, but responded to a follow-up by Hans Nichols from Bloomberg News by saying that his government is “committed to the protection and promotion of human rights.”

Longer quote from Hu: “in the course of human rights, China has also made enormous progress, recognized widely in the world. China recognizes and also respects the universality of human rights.  And at the same time, we do believe that we also need to take into account the different and national circumstances when it comes to the universal value of human rights. China is a developing country with a huge population, and also a developing country in a crucial stage of reform.  In this context, China still faces many challenges in economic and social development.  And a lot still needs to be done in China, in terms of human rights. We will continue our efforts to improve the lives of the Chinese people, and we will continue our efforts to promote democracy and the rule of law in our country.  At the same time, we are also willing to continue to have exchanges and dialogue with other countries in terms of human rights, and we are also willing to learn from each other in terms of the good practices.” Hu added that he is willing to hold further discussions with Obama on this topic “on the basis of mutual respect and the principle of non-interference in each other’s internal affairs.”