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Obama to raise Tibet, human rights with China's Hu

AFP

US President Barack Obama stands with Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) after a caucus meeting on Capitol Hill 7 November 2009 in Washington, DC. Obama will raise the issue of Tibet and human rights with Chinese president Hu Jintao in his debut Asian tour as president on Thursday, 12 November.File photo/Getty Images/Brendan Smialowski/US

US President Barack Obama will directly raise human rights with Chinese President Hu Jintao next week, after being criticised for not meeting Tibet’s leader Dalai Lama before visiting Beijing.

Obama, who leaves the United States for his debut Asian tour as president on Thursday, will talk about religious freedom, the plight of Tibet, and other human rights issues with Hu, a senior US official said.

“The president will raise human rights concerns directly with President Hu in his meetings,” Jeffrey Bader, Obama’s senior director for Asian Affairs on the National Security Council.

“The kind of issues that are on our minds are issues of freedom of expression, access to information, freedom of religion, rule of law,” Bader said.

“I have every reason to expect that the issue of Tibet will come up on the trip,” Bader said, adding that Obama was ready to meet the Dalai Lama “at the appropriate time.”

The Dalai Lama — who fled Chinese rule in Tibet more than 50 years ago — spent a week in Washington last month on his first visit in 18 years that did not include a meeting with the US president.

Obama was heavily criticised by human rights advocates for not welcoming the Dalai Lama personally to the White House, with critics claiming that he was downplaying Tibet and human rights issues to avoid antagonising China.

The White House said Obama would meet the exiled Tibetan leader later this year but only after he pays his first presidential visit to China, with which the administration has been building warm relations.

Obama is due to have dinner with Hu on Monday, 16 November, before formal talks the next day and a state banquet with the Chinese leader, officials said.

He will have previously visited Shanghai, on a trip that also includes stops in Japan, Singapore and South Korea.

Copyright © 2009 AFP

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