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Hu ends US tour marked by lack of accords and embarrassment
AFP
WASHINGTON
Petroleumworld.com 04 22 06China's President Hu Jintao on Friday ended his first official visit to the United States, which produced a summit of only symbolic success but some gaffes to embarrass both sides.
Hu's final appointment was a speech at Yale University which drew thousands more protesters against China's handling of human rights, the Falungong group and other issues.
The president, who took a flight on to Saudi Arabia, defended China's political model and called for closer Beijing-Washington ties.
"We are ready and willing to draw on the useful experience of foreign countries. On the other hand, we will not simply copy the political models of other countries," Hu said.
He added that "closer China-US cooperation serves the fundamental interest of our two peoples and also it is of great significance to peace and stability in the world."
Hu gave an upbeat assessment of his meeting with President George W. Bush, even though the White House summit produced no concrete agreements on key security and trade affairs.
It was also marked by a series of incidents that upset the organisers and visitors. A White House annnouncer first said that a military band would play the national anthem of the Republic of China -- Taiwan's official name -- rather than the People's Republic.
Then after Hu had started a speech on a the White House lawn a Falungong supporter accredited as a journalist started shouting abuse at the Chinese president.
It took three minutes for Secret Service guards to haul the woman away and Bush had to apologise to Hu during their summit.
The woman, Wang Wenyi, was arraigned in a Washington court on Friday on a charge of intimidating the Chinese leader.
Wang said nothing in the court and did not plead. She faces a maximum sentence of six months in prison and/or a 5,000-dollar fine. A preliminary hearing for a trial will be held on May 3.
After she was released Wang said it had been "an individual act of conscience."
In another inelegant moment, Bush was shown on television grabbing Hu by his jacket when the Chinese president tried to leave the podium before the close of the welcoming ceremonies.
Faced with mounting proliferation problems over Iran and North Korea's nuclear programmes, the two leaders had little to offer, though Hu said China would work with the United States to find negotiated settlements.
With Bush facing growing Congress complaints about the 201.6 billion dollar trade deficit with China last year, the president called for a new revaluation of the Chinese currency.
Hu acknowledged the "frictions," but only offered to step up efforts to open up China's markets and clampdown on piracy and possible moves on the currency.
The Washington Post called it a "summit of symbols." It said that Hu had sought to stress the equality of the two nations during the visit while: "For his part, Bush tried to signal that China is not all that equal."
The Post highlighted how the White House did not grant Hu the state dinner he wanted "offering instead a lunch that fell just short of the pomp and circumstance for close allies."
Yet the two leaders acknowledged that they have many shared strategic interests and in a speech to a Washington dinner late Thursday, Hu predicted US-China relations would become stronger because of the summit.
"I believe the meeting today was a very productive one and I look forward to a future China-US relationship that is more stable and more mature," he told the dinner of 900 politicians, business executives and academics.
The Chinese leader said the summit had been "pragmatic and constructive" and that the two leaders had "agreed that against the new international backdrop, China and the United States share extensive common interests".
"China and the United States have high stakes in counter-terrorism and non-proliferation," he said.
Strong Sino-US relations help the two countries and are "of great significance to the promotion of peace, stability and development in the Asia-Pacific region and to the world at large," the Chinese president said.
The Chinese leader will arrive Saturday in Saudi Arabia for a visit that highlights his country's desperate need for energy to fuel its miracle growth of the past decade.
He will spend three days in Saudi Arabia, just three months after King Abdullah visited China.
Hu will also spend time in Morocco, Kenya and Nigeria -- another potential oil supplier --on the tour.
AFP 04 22 06 0116 GMTCopyright © 1994-2006 Agence France-Presse. All Rights Reserved.
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