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BEIJING, CHINA - THE United States held 'constructive' talks with China on a wide range of human rights issues, a US envoy said here on Tuesday as he praised the government for its earthquake response.
China and the US held two days of talks on human rights in Beijing, the first of their kind since a dialogue was suspended in 2002 amid US criticism at the United Nations over Beijing's rights record.
'We're encouraged by the resumption of dialogue and we look forward to its continuation,' David Kramer, the head of the US team, told reporters after the talks.
'Human rights have been a source of tension in our relationship. We want to turn it into a more positive factor,' the assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labour told reporters.
He said the 'constructive and productive' talks touched on media and Internet freedoms, 'prisoners of concern' and freedom of religion, as well as the situations in Tibet and the Muslim-majority Xinjiang region.
Mr Kramer restated the US position for China to improve its human rights record ahead of the Beijing Olympics in August.
'We view the Olympic Games as an opportunity for China to put its best face forward. Progress in human rights would certainly help in this area,' Mr Kramer said.
But he also struck a very positive tone on other issues, saying the Chinese government's response to the devastating May 12 earthquake in southwest China was a 'model for many other countries to follow'.
'The government responded in a very remarkable way. This has brought China closer together and it has also brought other countries closer to China,' he said.
Mr Kramer met on Monday with Wu Hailong, director of the international department of the Chinese foreign ministry, ministry spokesman Qin Gang told journalists earlier Tuesday.
'Disputes on human rights should be settled in a constructive manner and there should be no double standards or interference in the internal affairs of the other,' Mr Qin quoted Mr Wu as saying during the talks.
The two nations began the human rights dialogue in the wake of the 1989 Tiananmen massacre that saw Chinese troops violently crush pro-democracy protests, resulting in the deaths of hundreds, if not thousands, of people.
However the dialogue was suspended after the US tabled a resolution at the United Nations condemning the communist government's human rights record.
The US dropped China from its list of the world's worst human rights violators in March.
However a few days later protests broke out in the Himalayan region of Tibet against Chinese rule. China's massive security crackdown against the protesters sparked international condemnation. -- AFP
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