Tuesday, 09-Apr-2002

BERLIN, April 9 (AFP) - President Johannes Rau stressed Germany's concerns about human rights and the rule of law during talks with his Chinese counterpart Jiang Zemin Tuesday, a German presidential spokeswoman said.

Jiang, who arrived in Germany for a six-day state visit late Monday, was received with full military honours in Berlin by Rau on Tuesday.

Jiang then held talks with Rau at Bellevue Palace, the German president's official residence.

The spokeswoman said that Rau had addressed the status of Christian churches in China and noted that "religion and culture live peacefully with each other" in Germany.

[...]Rau replied that freedom need not undermine security in a democracy and stressed the shared international responsibility for a free and just world, the spokeswoman said.

China has faced international criticism in particular for its reported repression [...]on the banned spiritual movement Falungong.

More than 150 Falungong supporters protested in Berlin on Monday against Beijing's stance.

The two men wound up their meeting stressing the strong state of relations and the importance of expanding economic ties.

Germany is China's leading European trade partner, with two-way trade of almost 20 billion dollars (23 billion euros) in 2000, more than twice that of Britain in second place.

[...]http://www.ptd.net/webnews/wed/cf/Qgermany-china-presidents.RT3u_CA9.html