In his visit to the Capitol, the Chinese president is challenged by members of Congress, who ask him to account for China’s human rights situation and free Liu Xiaobo. Things are better in Chicago, where Hu tells the mayor that despite the distance, they are “linked by friendship”.

Chicago (AsiaNews/Agencies) – The third day of Hu Jintao’s visit to the United States was his toughest. Unlike President Barack Obama at the White House, the Congress received the Chinese leader with open hostility. Even before that, House Speaker, Republican John Boehner, had breached protocol by refusing to attend the state dinner in honour of the foreign guest.

After Hu’s visit to the Capitol, Boehner released a statement that said, “We raised our strong, ongoing concerns with reports of human rights violations in China, including the denial of religious freedom and the use of coercive abortion as a consequence of the ‘one child’ policy. When it comes to guaranteeing the freedom and dignity of all her citizens, including and especially the unborn, Chinese leaders have a responsibility to do better, and the United States has a responsibility to hold them to account.”

Democratic house leader, Nancy Pelosi, criticised China’s treatment of Liu Xiaobo in front of Hu. Liu, who is serving an 11-year sentence, won the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize but was unable to pick it up in person in Oslo.

Almost 90 members of Congress signed a letter pressing Hu on China’s "persistent violation of trade law", which “harm our workers by putting U.S. companies out of business and impeding our economic recovery efforts.”

For his part, Hu said, "China-U.S. relations have reached unprecedented breadth and depth”. However, for them to improve, “We should keep our relations on the path of equality, [and] mutual respect”. In addition, he warned “relations will suffer constant trouble or even tension” if the US gets itself involved in “Taiwan and Tibet-related issues”.

Hu described China’s economy, which is no longer socialist and even less communist, as a “socialist market economy”, a term that encompasses both capitalism and state dirigisme.

He stressed that China’s goal is to “develop [a] socialist democracy and build a socialist country under the rule of law”, and that Beijing is not engaged “in an arms race,” nor does it “seek hegemony or pursue an expansionist policy.”

In Congress, most assessments of Hu’s visit were negative however. For Texas Republican Kevin Brady, Hu came to the Capitol just speechify rather than listen, whilst Michigan Democrat Sander Levin said that members “were not given a chance” to speak to the Chinese leader.

Things were somewhat better in Chicago, where Hu met leaders of US industry. In the windy city, the Chinese president praised Mayor Richard Daley, who has been in office for 22 years, and visited China four times since 2004. “Despite the great distance between Chicago and China, our hearts are linked together by friendship,” Hu said.

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