WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama welcomed Chinese President Hu Jintao to the White House Wednesday with full honors, a red carpet and a color guard. But the two leaders wasted no time in delivering pointed messages to each other at the start of daylong meetings to address trade, security and human rights issues that have been the cause of past strain between the two powers.
In his remarks at the South Lawn arrival ceremony, Obama said each country had an enormous stake in the other's future, and he then referenced human rights.
"We also know this: history shows that societies are more harmonious, nations are more successful and the world is more just when the rights and responsibilities of all nations and all peoples are upheld — including the universal rights of every human being," Obama said.
For his part, Hu said the relationship between the two powers should be based on "mutual respect," with each country respecting the other's core interests and choices of development paths suggesting limits to how far the U.S. can push China on issues from currency to human rights.
