Rice urges China to embrace religious freedom

BEIJING - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged China on Monday to embrace religious freedom and think about political reforms to match its economic opening.

Rice raised the sensitive issues of human rights and democracy with Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing in Beijing on the final day of her six-nation tour of Asia, and after attending a church service on Sunday.

"We ... talked a good deal about the need for China to think about a more open political system that will match its economic opening and allow for the full creativity of the Chinese people," Rice told a news conference.

Days before her visit, China freed one of its highest-profile political prisoners and Washington opted not to seek a UN rebuke of Beijing's rights record, in what appeared to be reciprocal concessions.

The US State Department cited "significant steps" in China for its decision, including Beijing's pledge to give prisoners convicted of political crimes the same rights to parole and sentence reduction as other inmates.

But rights groups say China still detains and tortures those who advocate for changes to the Communist Party's monopoly on power, curbs media freedoms and uses the war on terrorism as a pretext for cracking down on peaceful opponents.

Rice called the church service she attended "an extraordinary experience" and said China's leaders should not view religion as a threat.

"I do hope that there is an understanding that religious communities are not a threat to transitional societies. In fact they are very often ... a source for good, for stability and for compassion in societies that are undergoing rapid change, " she said.

Beijing banned the Falun Gong spiritual movement in 1999 after 10,000 adherents besieged China's tightly guarded leadership compound demanding official recognition of their faith.

China also forbids organised worship outside designated religious organisations and frowns on many Tibetan Buddhist practices it sees as superstition.

- REUTERS