Pomp, ceremony and careful rebukes

As President Barack Obama welcomed Hu Jintao of China to the White House yesterday with pledges of a new era of co-operation between their countries, he punctured the pomp of an opening ceremony on the South Lawn with a pointed reminder of the world's dismay at Beijing's reluctant record on human rights.

Obama specifically raised Tibet at a press conference, saying that while the US recognises it is a part of Chinese territory, it is urging Beijing to engage in fresh talks "to resolve concerns and differences including the preservation of the religious and cultural identity" of the Tibetan people.

"We have some core views as Americans about the universality of certain rights, that we think are very important that transcend cultures. I have been very candid with President Hu about these issues."

Hu said: "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."

The comments came after Obama and President Hu stood alongside each other on a podium as a 21-gun salute marked the start of an intricately choreographed formal visit by the Chinese leader that culminated with a star-studded state dinner.

Barely had the day's serious business begun, including talks between the two heads of state, than the White House was unveiling a US$45 billion ($59 billion) new export agreement with China that it said would protect 235,000 American jobs.

Yet behind the veneer of mutual friendship, a multitude of tensions lurked not just in the area of human rights but also economic competition, arsenal-building and international diplomacy.

While Obama was already going further than his predecessor, George W. Bush, to accord Hu full honours in Washington - it was the first state dinner for a Chinese leader in 13 years - there could be no ignoring the gaps between them on human rights.

Obama is a Nobel Peace Prize winner and Hu leads a country that has last year's winner, Liu Xiaobo, behind bars.

"History shows that societies are more harmonious, nations are more successful and the world is more just when the rights and responsibilities of all nations and all peoples are upheld - including the universal rights of every human being," Obama said at the opening ceremony.

Saying he saw his visit as an opportunity to "open a new chapter in co-operation as partners", Hu also sharpened the atmosphere by serving notice that China and the US will not see eye to eye on everything and should exercise mutual respect of each other's positions.

"China and the United States should respect each other's choice of development path and each other's core interests," he said.

John Boehner, the new House Speaker, declined to attend the all-American themed state dinner. But Hu will have talks on Capitol Hill today before he leaves Washington for a brief visit to Chicago.

While many Americans see China as the villain on the global economic stage with its trading success grounded in part on an artificially cheap currency, the White House sought to emphasise the significance of the new exports package that was assembled before the state visit.

China, it said, had agreed to purchases of American goods made in 12 different US states. It also sealed deals to buy 200 Boeing aircraft and open a joint venture to develop and build hybrid buses for China's public transport networks.

Protocol chiefs at the White House were straining to avoid potential gaffes. There were red faces in 2006, the last time Hu was in the US capital, when an announcer identified the Chinese national anthem as belonging instead to Taiwan, a country that Beijing still considers part of its territory.

There was embarrassment on the same occasion when Hu was loudly heckled by a protester.

It wasn't clear whether the Chinese leader was aware of roughly 200 Free Tibet protesters gathered from the early hours yesterday and noisily chanting their objections to his presence on American soil from a small park just across from the White House.

Translation mix-ups led to some confusion at the White House news conference.

Obama initially thought his responses were being translated simultaneously into Chinese for Hu. But they were not, and so the Chinese-language translator had to embark on a lengthy translation after Obama's response to the first question he was asked, about human rights.

"I apologise, I thought we had simultaneous translation there," Obama said after he realised what had happened. "So I would have broken up the answer into smaller bites."

The human rights question also was directed at Hu, but the Chinese President did not answer it, initially causing the impression that he was avoiding the touchy topic.

When the question was repeated to Hu later in the news conference he willingly discussed China's human rights issues, explaining that he had not heard the question the first time around "because of the technical translation and interpretation problem".

The White House said the first question had in fact been translated for Hu.

It was not clear what caused the confusion, though the White House said the Chinese had asked for consecutive, not simultaneous, translation.

- INDEPENDENT, AP