Rome - Italian President Giorgio Napolitano said Monday he
raised the issue of human rights in China during talks with his
Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao in Rome.
'We agreed that the kind of development and economic and social
progress that is taking place in China places new requirements on the
matter of human rights,' Napolitano said adressing reporters
following the meeting.
Just hours before the two leaders met, reports said some 140
people died and more than 800 were injured in clashes between police
and members of the Uighur ethnic minority in China's western region
of Xinjiang.
Hu, who is in Italy to attend a Group of Eight summit beginning
Wednesday in L'Aquila, made no reference to human rights in his
statement to reporters, nor did he mention the bloody clashes in his
country.
The friendship between the Italian and Chinese people is based on
'equality, mutual respect and reciprocal trust,' the Chinese leader
said.
Hu, accompanied by more than 300 Chinese business entrepreneurs,
later met Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and also presided
over the signing of several business deals involving Italian and
Chinese businesses.
Among these is a joint venture between Italian car maker Fiat and
China's Guangzhou Automobile Group (GAC Group) for the production of
cars and engines for the Chinese market.
The deal includes plans to for a 400-million-euro (559-million-
dollar) plant located in Changsha, capital of China's Hunan province.
Berlusconi, speaking at a news conference with Hu, did not refer
to the clashes in China, choosing instead to focus on bilateral trade
and China's possible role at the G8 summit of which Italy holds the
current presidency.
Berlusconi said he expects at the G8 summit a 'positive
intervention,' by Hu to help restart the so-called Doha negotiations
on global free trade.
For his part, Hu said Italy and China would have to work together
to 'oppose protectionism and safeguard an open and impartial global
trade system.'
In L'Aquila, G8 leaders from the US, Japan, Germany, France,
Britain, Italy, Canada and Russia, are scheduled to involve China and
other members of the so-called G8 plus 5 - which also includes
emerging nations India, South Africa, Mexico and Brazil - in a
session devoted to the international economic crisis.
USA
Your Talkback on this Story