George W. Bush, the US president, on Tuesday urged China to expand human rights and religious freedoms in his first public appearance with Premier Wen Jiabao at the White House.
After a 19-gun salute and inspection of the honour guard, Mr Bush, a born-again Christian, on Tuesday twice referred to China's restrictions on religious freedom. The president was pres sed to raise the issue after China had refused to allow a special US commission on religion to interview anyone in Hong Kong.
"The growth of economic freedom in China provides reason to hope that social, political and religious freedoms will grow there as well," Mr Bush said.
"In the long run, these freedoms are indivisible and essential to national greatness and national dignity."
The president said the strength of the US-China relationship allowed them to be candid about their disagreements.
With its professed commitment to spreading the cause of democracy, the Bush administration does not want to be seen to be indifferent to human rights in China, but officials said the p resident would not push the matter to the point where it would rebound on US interests such as Taiwan and North Korea (news - web sites)'s nuclear weapons programme.
The US Commission on International Religious Freedom, a federal organisation, announced on the eve of Mr Wen's visit that it had called off a fact-finding trip to China because the Chi nese authorities had banned all meetings in Hong Kong.
"The Chinese said we could only transit," explained Michael Young, head of the Commission and dean of the George Washington University law school.
Given Hong Kong's special status under the "one country, two systems" formula, he said it was particularly troubling that the delegation had been denied access.
China is one of six countries of "particular concern" identified by the Commission and the State Department as responsible for "egregious violations of religious freedom".
As a result, the Clinton administration imposed limited sanctions on China, prohibiting the export from the US of certain crime control and detection equipment. The Bush administration has not changed those measures, despite what officials call a marked improvement in Sino-US relations.
The US is particularly concerned about the treatment of Tibetan Buddhists, Christians who are worshipping outside state-registered churches, Muslims in the Xinjiang frontier region, an d followers of the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement.
The commission could recommend that the US impose further sanctions on China, but Mr Young said this would not necessarily happen. He stressed the importance of access, however.
China did not give a reason for its refusal to allow the US delegation to hold meetings in Hong Kong.