By Corey Boles, Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
WASHINGTON – U.S. lawmakers and Chinese political activists urged President Barack Obama to place human rights issues at the forefront of the visit this week to Washington by Chinese President Hu Jintao.
Reps. Chris Smith (R., N.J.) and Frank Wolf (R., Va.), both longtime advocates for human rights, called on Obama to address a range of human rights issues with Hu, both in public and in their private talks this week.
The lawmakers cited China’s treatment of Tibetans, Christians, members of the spiritual movement Falun Gong, democracy activists and Uighur Muslims as issues that Obama must bring up with Hu.
Smith, chairman of the House Human Rights Subcommittee, said that it was ” unthinkable” that Obama, the winner last year of the Nobel Peace Prize, would host a state dinner for a world leader responsible for the imprisonment of another Nobel laureate.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded Chinese author and dissident Liu Xiaobo the peace prize in December. Liu wasn’t allowed to attend the award ceremony and remains incarcerated in a Chinese prison. Obama was awarded the prestigious prize a year after he won the 2008 presidential election.
“The president has an obligation to publicly and vigorously call for Liu Xiaobo’s release, especially during this visit,” Smith said.
Wolf said a Chinese leader hasn’t been honored with a state dinner in Washington since 1997, when President Bill Clinton hosted President Jiang Zemin. He said China had done nothing in the last 13 years in terms of cleaning up its human rights record to merit another state dinner.
“I call on President Obama to reinforce the message during his meetings with President Hu and to follow his words with live actions,” Wolf said.
It’s clear from the comments of lawmakers, assembled dissidents and political activists that China’s human rights record tops the list of concerns for many in Washington, despite worries over the Asian giant’s currency policy and its actions in other trade matters.
In a direct and passionate appeal to Obama, Chai Ling, a former student leader during the 1989 Tiananmen Square demonstrations and now president of nongovernmental organization All Girls Allowed, urged Obama to consider what it would be like if only one of his two daughters were allowed to survive.
“Imagine of your two beautiful children, you’re only allowed to have one, the other has to be put to death,” Chai said, looking directly at television cameras during a press conference on Capitol Hill.
She urged Obama to raise the issue of forced sterlizations and abortions to enforce China’s “one-child policy” when he meets with Hu later Tuesday and again on Wednesday.
Chai said that in the next 24 hours, 500 Chinese women would commit suicide as a result of the policy, and an additional 200 women and children would be sold into slavery to circumvent the government-enforced program.
All Girls Allowed was established to raise awareness of and fight against the one-child policy.
Ngawang Sangdrol, a Tibetan who was imprisoned for 11 years over her efforts to fight for self-determination for the mountainous region, called on Obama to push for the release of all imprisoned Tibetans and freedom for the region.
Geng He, the wife of noted political prisoner and prominent Chinese human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng, implored Obama to call on Hu to release her jailed husband.
Geng said her two children, who now live with her in the U.S., didn’t know if their father was still alive or if he continues to be tortured in rural China.
