Thursday, 21 February, 2002

US President George W Bush has urged China to respect human rights, including religious freedoms, after initial talks in Beijing with his Chinese counterpart, Jiang.

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Religious freedoms

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But he stressed his belief that people "should be free to choose how they live, how they worship and how they work".

"China's future is for the Chinese people to decide, yet no nation is exempt from the demands of human dignity," he said.

He had earlier highlighted the detention of American followers of the Falun Gong meditation [group] and the imprisoning of Roman Catholic bishops.

The American National Security Advisor, Condoleeza Rice, said the US had made it clear that China should release imprisoned religious figures.

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/asia-pacific/newsid_1832000/1832943.stmá