Reuters reports on protests that greeted Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi in Beijing:
Police quickly dragged away the small group demonstrating in front of a central government office — far from any of the sites visited by Pelosi and other Congress members, who have been focused on climate change negotiations.
Demonstrations over everything from pollution to crime are common in China, but rare in front of major government offices in tightly controlled Beijing. Some of the protesters spray-painted red slogans on the main gate of the State Council Information Office reading “Pelosi we love you,” “Warmly welcome Pelosi, pay attention to human rights” and “Down with corruption.”
See photos of the protest. See also an AFP report.
Pelosi has played down her usual focus on human rights issues during her visit and concentrated on building a cooperative relationship with China on climate change. From Time:
Ahead of this week’s visit to China, Pelosi’s first as Speaker of the House, there was some nervousness in China that the high-ranking Democrat would publicly raise human-rights concerns at a sensitive time in Beijing — just one week before the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen massacre. But thus far, the American politician, who is facing questions at home about what she knew of the CIA’s waterboarding of terrorism suspects, has given her hosts little to worry about. When she did mention human rights, it was in the broad context of international relations, rather than specific criticism of China’s record. “In every country, not just China and the U.S., the global climate crisis is best surmounted with transparency and openness, respect for the rule of law and accountability to the people,” she said in her Beijing talk.
