Reuters: China's Jiang Faces More Protests During Germany Visit [Excerpt]

Tue Apr 9, 2:52 AM ET

BERLIN (Reuters) - Chinese President Jiang Zemin was due to meet German leaders on Tuesday in a visit greeted by protests over Beijing's treatment of the Falun Gong spiritual movement.

Jiang hopes to use the five-day trip to strengthen relations with Germany -- China's biggest trading partner in Europe -- with deals for educational and cultural cooperation.

But several hundred demonstrators staged a peaceful protest over China's Falun Gong crackdown as Jiang flew in on Monday for the visit. He is expected to face more protests over China's human rights record and its handling of religious communities such as Falun Gong and ethnic minorities like the Tibetans.

"Instead of simply relying on dialogue, the (German) president and chancellor should openly and publicly criticise the situation in China," Dirk Pleiter, China expert for the German chapter of human rights group Amnesty International, said in a statement.

Germany is the start of a five-nation tour that will also take Jiang to Libya, Nigeria, Tunisia and Iran.

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Germany's Society for Threatened Peoples said it would protest on Tuesday near the chancellery to urge Schroeder to press China to ratify an international anti-torture convention.

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