TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

China's human rights off Pelosi's agenda

ADVERTISEMENT

The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 24, 2009

BEIJING - For the second time this year, a top U.S. official visiting China has declined in advance to publicly discuss Beijing's human rights record, a shift in practice that comes almost exactly two decades after the Tiananmen Square massacre.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who collided with Chinese authorities in 1991 when she unfurled a banner memorializing those who died in the square, arrived here today saying only that she planned to discuss climate change with Chinese officials.

At a briefing in Washington before leaving for her weeklong trip, Pelosi declined to say whether she planned to discuss human rights. Instead, she said only that she would focus on securing support for a global pact on reducing carbon emissions, in advance of a major international gathering on climate change scheduled for December in Copenhagen.

In February, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton also pointedly played down human-rights issues when she traveled to Beijing.

The Washington Post

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT