Bush to rebuke China on human rights, dissidents
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BANGKOK (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush plans to voice deep concerns about human rights in China in a speech on Thursday, hours before he arrives in Beijing for the opening of the Olympic Games.
"The United States believes the people of China deserve the fundamental liberty that is the natural right of all human beings," Bush will say in a speech in Bangkok, copies of which were released in advance.
"So America stands in firm opposition to China's detention of political dissidents, human rights advocates and religious activists."
China is likely to bristle at Bush's speech to diplomats, officials and business leaders in Bangkok, which he will deliver as world leaders converge for the opening of an event that China hopes will showcase its modern face and economic progress.
"We speak out for a free press, freedom of assembly, and labor rights not to antagonize China's leaders, but because trusting its people with greater freedom is the only way for China to develop its full potential," Bush will say.
"And we press for openness and justice not to impose our beliefs, but to allow the Chinese people to express theirs."
China last week condemned Bush's meeting with a group of exiled Chinese dissidents, saying it "sent a seriously wrong message to anti-Chinese forces".
The activists included Wei Jingsheng, who was jailed twice for a total of nearly 20 years before being forced into exile in the United States in 1997, and Uighur dissident Rebiya Kadeer, who left for the United States in 2005 after spending more than five years in prison on charges of providing state secrets to foreigners.
The Beijing Olympic Games, which open on Friday, have galvanized critics of China's human rights record, and Bush has come under pressure from U.S. lawmakers and advocacy groups to take a stronger stand on the issue.
"I have spoken clearly, candidly, and consistently with China's leaders about our deep concerns over religious freedom and human rights," Bush plans to say in his speech.
Bush has repeatedly said he is going to the Olympics for sports and not for politics.
(Reporting by Matt Spetalnick; Writing by John Chalmers; Editing by Jon Bramley)
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