BEIJING, Feb 21 (AFP) - The United States insisted Thursday China should free detained Christian clergy as the two sides locked horns over freedom of worship during President George W. Bush's visit.
While Chinese President Jiang Zemin initially sought to evade a question about jailed Catholic bishops during a joint press conference with Bush, the US side was blunt.
"The Chinese government needs to release them. We've made that clear at a number of levels," said Bush's national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice.
During talks soon after his arrival in Beijing, Bush encouraged Jiang "to think hard" about opening
dialogue with religious communities, Rice told reporters.
She said the president had specifically raised the importance of dialogue with the Vatican and with Tibet's spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, "and suggested that perhaps some of them might be invited here to the country".
The presidents had "an extensive discussion of religious freedom and a really rather long exchange", Rice added.
When challenged on religious liberty during the joint press conference, Jiang ignored the question twice before saying that religious figures were jailed only because they had broken the law.
"Whatever religion people believe in, they have to abide by the law, so some of the lawbreakers were detained because they violated laws, not because of their religious belief," Jiang said.
Bush, who is on the last leg of an Asian tour that also took in Japan and South Korea, is a committed Christian and has in the past raised concerns about the detentions of those of varying faiths in China.
He told his host that religion had proved a "stabilizing and calming force" in the United States
during recent turbulent months, according to Rice.
"It was a very friendly discussion. President Jiang was interactive on it," she said.
However, the Chinese leader appeared keen to evade the issue at the subsequent press conference.
There was an awkward silence after he was asked by a US reporter to tell the American people why China had imprisoned 50 Catholic bishops, and then again when another journalist repeated the query.
Both times, as it gradually became clear Jiang was not going to answer, fresh questions were posed.
He finally responded at the end of the press conference.
"If they violate China's laws, they would not receive any pardon just because they are a believer of any religion," Jiang said.
[..]
Jiang added: "I don't have religious faith yet this does not prevent me from having interest in religion. I have read the Bible; I have also read the Koran as well as the scriptures of Buddhism."
On the eve of Bush's arrival, Washington risked Beijing's anger by lodging a formal protest over the treatment of US-based Falun Gong practitioners expelled from China last week.
"We have submitted a formal protest to Chinese officials regarding our concerns about prompt consular access and allegations of mistreatment of US citizens by Chinese police," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said.
"That is an issue we will continue to follow up," he said.
China permits only officially sanctioned Protestant and Catholic churches, which swear primary allegiance to Beijing.
Since Beijing banned the Falun Gong spiritual group in 1999, it has launched a crackdown on many religious groups, targeting in particular underground Christian churches which have flourished across the country by attracting millions of worshipers.
http://www.ptd.net/webnews/wed/aq/Qchina-us-religion.RLGV_CFL.html
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