AFP: Chinese President Gets Human Rights Lecture at German Dinner

(Clearwisdom.net) Chinese President Hu Jintao received a human rights lecture by a German regional leader at a dinner hosted in his honor in the western city of Dusseldorf.

Speaking before 200 guests, the head of the North Rhine-Westphalia state Juergen Ruettgers said he was "convinced that human rights and political liberty, along with prosperity, are today more than ever the irreplaceable foundations for stability and unity."

Hu had hitherto been able to avoid confrontation over China's human rights record during his three-day visit dedicated to trade, with the rights issue off the agenda with German leaders, and journalists denied the opportunity to ask questions at news conferences.

But Ruettgers, a member of the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) of incoming chancellor Angela Merkel, said Germany supports democracy throughout the world and "we call upon and support all the countries which go down that road."

The regional leader said the idea of inalienable human rights was not just a Western concept, citing the Chinese philosopher Mengzi who died 2,300 years ago: "Each man possesses within him innate dignity."

Hu's visit was accompanied by human rights demonstrations which have dogged him since he began his three-country European tour in Britain.

His trip to Germany has seen extensive business deals signed, but Hu has achieved no progress in recruiting support for a lifting of the European Union ban on weapons sales to China, imposed after the crushing of the 1989 Tiananmen Square democracy protests.

He held talks on Friday in Berlin with Merkel and the outgoing chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.

The Chinese leader was set to travel to Spain on Sunday for a two-day visit.