China last stop for Bush

BEIJING -- President Bush failed to persuade China Thursday to halt sales of missile technology, an issue of rising importance as the United States fights its war on terrorism. \nBush was ending his six-day Asian tour Friday with a visit to the Great Wall and an appeal to Chinese young people to embrace human rights and religious tolerance. \n"No nation is exempt from the demands of human dignity," Bush said in a joint news conference Thursday with Chinese President Jiang Zemin. \nBush was unable to win China's agreement on halting the sale of missile and nuclear technology to Iran, Pakistan, North Korea and other nations. Iran and North Korea, along with Iraq, make up the "axis of evil" that Bush has targeted for the next phase of his drive to wipe out terrorism. \nThe United States says China, reneging on a pledge in November 2000, helped Pakistan last year with missile expertise and provided equipment or technology to North Korea, Iran and Libya. \nRegarding Iraq, Jiang said peace is "the important thing." \nBush's speech Friday to students at Tsinghua University was to be broadcast live in China. The remarks were intended to extol the virtues of American society -- freedom, openness and faith. Aides said Bush aimed his appeal at China's youth, hoping they may one day prod their government to adopt Western ideals. \n"All the world's people, including the people of China, should be free to choose how they live, how they worship and how they work," Bush said a day earlier. \nNational Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice said the goal of the speech was to "challenge these young people to find those best values in this society as it moves through this period of rapid change." \nBush summed up his mission this way: "I will be defending American values." \nHe laid down his marker hours after his second face-to-face meeting with Jiang in China's Great Hall of the People. \nThe leaders sealed their alliance in the war against terrorism but split on several other issues, including Bush's missile defense plans, trade, nuclear proliferation and human rights. \nAt one point during their joint news conference, a grim-faced Bush twisted his body and looked away from Jiang as the Chinese president shrugged off questions about his government's jailing of Catholic bishops. \n"Some of the lawbreakers have been detained because of their violation of the law, not because of their religious belief," Jiang said. \nThe Chinese government used to say that simply conducting religious activity was destabilizing to society and against the law. More recently, religious leaders have been accused of criminal acts such as rape, fraud, assault and arson. \nHuman rights activists accuse the government of filing false criminal charges to avoid being accused of trampling on religious freedoms. \nBush advisers said he was not satisfied with Jiang's answer, though he understands it will take time for China to change course. Bush had privately urged the Chinese leader to open talks with the Vatican about the bishops, and to be more tolerant of all religions, aides said. \nJiang was not the only president to duck a question. \nAsked whether his missile defense plans could be used to defend Taiwan, which China considers a breakaway region, Bush offered a general defense of his anti-missile shield initiative. Then he added curtly, "That's the extent of our conversation." \nBush said he asked Jiang to carry a message to fellow communist Kim Jong Ill of North Korea: The United States wants to open talks with his government. \nThough Jiang did not say whether he would be a conduit, Bush noted that the Chinese leader urged Kim in October to reach out to South Korea. \n"That was constructive leadership," Bush said. \nJiang's term as president expires next year. Vice President Hu Jintao, the front-runner to succeed him, was to introduce Bush to the university students and meet later in Washington with Vice President Dick Cheney. Hu and Bush were expected to meet briefly in private. \nJiang will travel to Washington in the fall, the leaders announced.