US President Barack Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao yesterday vowed to cooperate more closely on critical issues ranging from increasing trade between the world’s two largest economies to fighting terrorism.
But they also stood fast on their differences, especially over human rights.
Mr Obama acknowledged that differences on rights were “an occasional source of tension between our two governments”.
He said at a joint news conference with Mr Hu at the White House: “We have some core views as Americans about the universality of certain rights: freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of assembly.”
Mr Obama said he drove that home forcefully in his discussions with the Chinese leader, but “that doesn’t prevent us from co-operating in these other critical areas”.
For Mr Hu’s part, he declined to respond to an American reporter’s question on human rights differences between the two countries.
In a sign of the growing economic bonds between the two superpowers, Mr Obama said the countries had made business deals that would mean $45 billion in new US exports.
Mr Obama also said China was taking significant steps to curtail the theft of intellectual property and expand US investment.
Mr Obama said China had become “one of the top markets for American exports” and that these exports have helped to support half a million US jobs.
Mr Hu said he and the American leader had agreed to “share expanding common interests”.
Mr Hu said “a lot” still needed to be done to improve human rights in China.
He said China is a developing country with an enormous population facing challenges in economic and social developments and said human rights must be viewed under those circumstances.
But Mr Hu said China will continue efforts to “improve the lives of our people and promote democracy and rule of law”.
Mr Hu said both countries should “respect each other’s sovereignty, territorial integrity and development interests”.
Mr Obama said: “I absolutely believe China’s peaceful rise is good for the world, and it’s good for America.”
The Chinese President said he and Mr Obama had agreed to “share expanding common interests”.
“We both agreed to further push forward the positive co-operative and comprehensive China-US relationship and commit to work together to build a China-US co-operative partnership based on mutual respect and mutual benefit, so as to better benefit people in our own countries and the world over,” Mr Hu said.