Queen Elizabeth II welcomes Chinese president
LONDON, England (AP) — Chinese President Hu Jintao received a pomp-filled welcome and a pair of silver photograph frames from Queen Elizabeth II as he began a three-day state visit to Britain. He was also the subject of a noisy protest by human rights activists.
Hu was officially welcomed during a ceremony Tuesday at Horse Guards Parade in central London before riding in a gold-edged carriage led by white horses to Buckingham Palace, where he was guest of honor at a banquet dinner.
Hundreds of human rights protesters lined the Mall — the wide road that leads to Buckingham Palace, which was decorated with red Chinese flags and red, white and blue British ones — to demonstrate against China’s human rights record as Hu, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Foreign Secretary Jack Straw rode past in the carriage.
Some protesters waved Tibetan flags and wore bandanas that said: “Free Tibet.”
Hu “is the guy who sent in hundreds of (Chinese Army) troops to the capital of Tibet; he is the guy who sent them in and shot and killed hundreds of Tibetan, mostly monks and nuns,” said Alice Speller, national coordinator of Students for a Free Tibet U.K.
“It is this man who has been invited here today. He is a world leader with an appalling human rights record,” she said. “He is the guy who congratulated (former President) Jiang Zemin on Tiananmen Square.”
Hundreds of Hu supporters also stood along the procession route, some of them cheering and holding Chinese flags.
Chinese-born John Zheng, 41, who moved to Britain in 1994, said he saw Hu as a good president.
“It needs time. China is so big, you cannot get change overnight,” he said.
In a speech during the palace banquet Tuesday evening, Hu said China was working hard to build a more prosperous society, “featuring a more developed economy, improved democracy, advanced science and education, a more prosperous culture, greater social harmony and higher living standards for the entire 1.3 billion people.”
The Queen said in her speech that China’s growth brought difficult challenges and great opportunities.
“It matters to all of us what kind of country China’s people will build, and what role they will play in the world of the 21st Century and how this will be perceived by others.”
Neither the Queen or Hu made a direct reference to China’s poor record on human rights.
Amnesty International urged Blair to raise human rights concerns during his talks with Hu, which Blair’s official spokesman said the British leader would do.
“It is best to deal with these matters in private rather than grandstanding, but it is an element of the relationship,” the spokesman said, speaking anonymously in keeping with government policy.
Blair has said protesters would be free to demonstrate. Activists had complained that, during his predecessor Jiang’s visit in 1999, heavy-handed policing kept protesters out of view.
Blair said his talks with Hu would focus on economic relations, climate change, security issues around the world and international cooperation at the United Nations.
Buckingham Palace said the Queen presented Hu with the photograph frames with pictures of the Queen and her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, and a book about British royalty, while Hu’s wife Liu Yongqing was given a jewelry box.
The giant London Eye Ferris wheel and Somerset House in central London were among several landmarks that were bathed in red lights Tuesday to celebrate Hu’s visit and a Chinese art exhibition at the Royal Academy.
