In response to President Bush’s meeting with prominent Chinese dissidents at the White House, Beijing on Thursday sharply condemned Washington for interfering in China’s domestic affairs and accused American legislators of politicizing the Olympics.
Shortly after Mr. Bush held talks Tuesday with the five dissidents — Harry Wu, Wei Jingsheng, Rebiya Kadeer, Sasha Gong and Bob Fu — the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution urging China to honor its pledge to improve human rights before the Games, which begin Aug. 8. The resolution passed 419 to 1.
During a news conference Thursday, Liu Jianchao, a Foreign Ministry spokesman, described the House measure as “odious conduct” and said the United States should stop “making use of so-called religious and human rights” issues to score political points, Agence France-Presse reported.