Bush takes hard line on Chinese repressions US president angers Beijing with pre-Olympics speech in Beijing

THAILAND:US PRESIDENT George Bush has put public pressure on China to improve its human rights record just hours before arriving in Beijing for the Olympic Games.

Speaking in Bangkok yesterday, Mr Bush took aim at China's clampdown on freedoms before the games. "The United States believes the people of China deserve the fundamental liberty that is the natural right of all human beings. America stands in firm opposition to China's detention of political dissidents, and human rights advocates and religious leaders," he said.

While his comments will have annoyed Beijing, coming so soon before the event that is meant to mark China's emergence on the world stage, Mr Bush carefully avoided any language that could be construed as interfering in Chinese domestic policy.

He said any changes in China would have to come "on its own terms and in keeping with its own history and traditions".

He praised China's economic prowess and reaffirmed Washington's "one-China" policy on Taiwan, which will please Beijing.

Mr Bush's hard line on human rights comes as the world's focus is on China, which stands accused of cracking down on dissent rather than granting more freedoms as it promised in 2001.

Almost at the same time as he was speaking, three American Christian activists were detained for protesting for a second day for religious freedom on Beijing's Tiananmen square.

The three were swooped on as they started a news conference and prayer vigil outside the Mao Zedong Memorial Hall. "We have come here today to speak out against the human rights abuses of the Chinese government," said Patrick Mahoney, director of the Christian Defence Coalition.

Most Chinese were focused on the Olympic torch relay as the flame was carried along the Great Wall. Giant dragons crouched in the watchtowers, and people waved flags and danced as the flame moved along the ramparts.

While the relay continued, more than 40 athletes urged China to solve problems in Tibet peacefully and protect freedom of speech and religion. The athletes are among 127 others reported to have signed a petition to Chinese president Hu Jintao, bringing sports and human rights together in a way that angers the Chinese, who oppose what they see as efforts to politicise the games.