Bush visits Beijing church, urges freedom

BEIJING | President Bush continued his Olympics juggling act on Sunday, settling for a pointed remark in public to push for wider religious freedom in China and raising further political concerns privately with Chinese President Hu Jintao.

Standing on the rain-splattered steps of the state-sanctioned Beijing Kuanjie Protestant Christian Church after attending an early morning service, Mr. Bush said it was “a joy and a privilege” to worship in the Chinese capital, as he did in 2005.

“It just goes to show that God is universal. No state, man or woman should fear the influence of loving religion,” he declared, alluding to the strict controls the Communist Party imposes on religion, while taking care not to embarrass his hosts - or the church pastor he encircled with his arm - with explicit criticism.

Later, at Zhongnanhai, the Chinese government’s residential compound, Mr. Bush returned to the topic, telling Mr. Hu, in front of reporters: “As you know, I feel very strongly about religion, and I am so appreciative of the chance to go to church here in your society.”

Behind closed doors, Mr. Bush pursued the issue of human rights abuses once again, a subject on which he talked at length in Bangkok just ahead of his departure to Beijing on Thursday, much to the irritation of the Chinese leadership.

He said human rights concerns are a key part of the U.S.-China dialogue, and “the Chinese can expect that any future American president will also make it an important aspect,” the Associated Press reported, citing Bush adviser Dennis Wilder.

Mr. Wilder said Mr. Bush did not raise specific cases of dissidents.

Mr. Bush then discussed with Mr. Hu efforts to verify North Korea’s dismantling of its nuclear program as other, more immediate security matters continued to vex both leaders.

Throughout the day, Mr. Bush and his aides deliberated over how to approach the escalating conflict between Russia and Georgia.

Meanwhile in Kuqa, a town in Xinjiang in China’s far Western province, eight men were killed in clashes between police and purported terrorists during attacks on government offices in the early hours of Sunday, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

Mr. Bush thanked Mr. Hu for the Chinese government’s quick response to the stabbing Saturday of two Americans: the in-laws of U.S. men’s volleyball coach Hugh McCutcheon and parents of 2004 U.S. Olympic volleyball player Elisabeth Bachman.

Todd Bachman was killed and his wife, Barbara, was seriously injured while visiting Beijing’s 13th-century Drum Tower.

“Your government has been very attentive, very sympathetic, and I appreciate that a lot,” Mr. Bush said.

The most contentious issue of the day was Mr. Bush’s visit to a government-approved church. Human rights and religious groups argued that Mr. Bush was endorsing the Communist Party’s regulation of worship in China.

Kuanjie church, a plain two-story building just north of the Forbidden City, with a white cross on top and a gold-plated sign that was bought especially for the occasion, is part of the Three-Self Patriotic Movement, a government-run organization to which all registered Protestant churches in China belong.

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