September 2, 2005 Friday

OTTAWA - Pressure is building on Prime Minister Paul Martin to put the issue of human rights in China at the top of his priority list when he welcomes Chinese President Hu Jintao to Ottawa next week.

In advance of Hu's private introduction to Governor General Adrienne Clarkson, a state dinner at Rideau Hall and a meeting with Martin, members of the Falun Gong spiritual movement and members of Parliament held a rally in Ottawa on Thursday, calling on the prime minister to discuss with Jintao the torture and deaths of Falun Gong practitioners - what organizers called the single most persecuted group in China.

"It seems to me the prime minister should raise this as one of the very first issues he discusses with President Hu and make it clear to everybody, including his entourage, that this is a priority," former Liberal MP David Kilgour, now an Independent, said at a Falun Gong news conference.

"If we learn afterward that the prime minister raised it late in the conversation, then President Hu will know perfectly well that Canada doesn't give a darn about this."

It will be Hu's first visit to Canada since succeeding Jiang Zemin as president in March 2003.

Hu will likely face several protests as he visits Ottawa, Toronto, Niagara Falls and Vancouver between Sept. 8 and 17, especially from Tibetans, Falun Gong and democracy groups.

"This visit is an opportunity to strengthen our personal relationship and our commitment to forming strategic partnerships between our two countries," said Prime Minister Martin in a statement.

On the agenda for the prime minister's meeting, along with human rights, is climate change, energy, science and technology, tourism and trade.

China's human rights abuses have worsened over the last six months, while becoming more secretive, said Carole Channer, a specialist on China at Amnesty International Canada.

Along with the persecution of the Falun Gong, Channer said the Chinese government has renewed a Strike Hard anti-terrorism campaign that has repressed Muslims and Uighurs in China's Xinjiang province; there is an increased crackdown on Internet communication and freedom of expression; and the government has not taken a single step to reduce routine criminal executions.