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BEIJING: US Treasury chief Henry Paulson began a
two-day trip to Beijing Wednesday that was set to see him raise
concerns over the Tibet crisis as well as trade issues during talks
with China’s leaders.
Paulson’s visit, part of a
routine economic exchange between the two nations, has taken on
added significance because he is the first high-level US official to
visit China since violent protests erupted in Tibet last month.
Paulson will also become the
first senior US representative to meet Hu Jintao since he was
reappointed Chinese president during a parliamentary session in
March.
Bush under pressure
Ahead of his trip, Paulson
emphasised the overarching economic nature of his visit, but he made
it clear he would raise the concerns of US President George W. Bush
about the Tibetan unrest.
“I’m also going to carry the
message from the administration that we care a lot about what’s
going on in Tibet, and human rights and Tibet, and so they will
clearly hear that from me,” he told the CNBC television network.
Bush last week phoned Hu to
express concern over the unrest and urge China to reopen talks with
exiled Tibetan leader the Dalai Lama, who Chinese authorities have
blamed for orchestrating the unrest.
The protests began in Tibet’s
capital, Lhasa, on March 10 to mark the anniversary of a failed 1959
uprising against Chinese rule of the remote Himalayan region.
They escalated into deadly
rioting in Lhasa four days later and spread to other areas of
western China with Tibetan populations.
China says Tibetan rioters killed
18 civilians and two policemen, while Tibet’s exiled leaders say
135-140 people have died in the Chinese crackdown on the unrest.
Paulson’s visit comes amid
rising tensions in Washington over how to respond to China’s
crackdown, with a group of US lawmakers on Tuesday moving to
prohibit Bush from attending the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony.
Despite his concern over Tibet,
Bush has said he intends to be at the August 8 ceremony.
Economic issue
Shi Hongyi, an international
relations professor at Beijing’s People’s University, said he
believed Paulson’s raising of the Tibet issue with the Chinese
leadership was aimed at helping Bush fend off his Washington
critics.
“It’s probably meant to ease
the pressure in the United States over the rather mild attitude Bush
has shown towards China on the Tibet issue,” Shi said.
This week’s meetings are to
prepare for a cabinet-level US-China Strategic Economic Dialogue
meeting in June in Washington, with participants expected to focus
on economic issues such as currency and intellectual property.
One of the biggest issues of
concern for the United States has been China’s currency, the yuan,
which US critics believe has been undervalued for many years, giving
Chinese exporters an unfair trade advantage.
Alan Holmer, special US envoy for
China and the twice-yearly economic dialogue, last week acknowledged
and welcomed an appreciation of “a little over 18 percent” in
the yuan, or renminbi, since July 2005.
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