Yahoo!  My Yahoo!  Mail
				News Home - Help

News Home Top Stories World Asia Pacific Business Technology Entertainment Sports Photos -- News by Country -- Indonesia Malaysia Philippines Singapore Thailand -- Greater Asia -- China Hong Kong Taiwan
	Yahoo! Asia News Search Yahoo! News

		advertisement
Tuesday May 23, 10:24 PM German leader winds up China trip with religious meeting Photo: AFP Click to enlarge SHANGHAI (AFP) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel met the Shanghai bishop from the Chinese Catholic church on the final day of a visit in which rights issues took center stage alongside trade. The meeting with 90-year-old Aloysius Jin Luxian struck a personal note with Merkel, who arrived in Beijing Sunday night for her first trip to China since taking office last November. "The meeting was moving... the bishop knew a lot about me. He knew I was a Protestant," Merkel said after talking with Jin. Merkel spent a half-hour chatting with Jin, a bishop in the government-backed Catholic church, which has no relations with the Vatican and its Roman Catholic church. One day after Merkel said she had pressed Premier Wen Jiabao on religious freedoms and human rights, Jin recounted his lengthy stints in Chinese jails and forced re-education camps. "God is so good to me. I was in prison for such a long time but He still gave me time to live," Jin told the German leader. Merkel also raised her concerns over China's curbs on the Internet and the situation in Tibet during meetings with the nation's leaders on Monday, and on Tuesday gave a cautiously optimistic assessment of the human rights situation. "I think the Chinese government listens very carefully to the topic of human rights," Merkel said. "We must hold more talks. We have to be speaking the same language both at home and in China when it comes to human rights." Merkel's visit was otherwise dominated by economic and trade discussions although there were none of the massive deals that often mark Western leaders' visits. The two nations inked deals on intellectual property rights, telecommunications and other sectors on Monday. The highest profile agreement was a deal to cooperate on the building of hundreds of trains which German officials said could be worth as much as 300 million euros (387 million dollars) for Germany's Siemens. China and Germany also signed an accord that bans Chinese garment manufacturers who use counterfeit fabrics from taking part in German trade exhibitions and fashion shows. However the two nations did not finalize a deal to extend China's high-speed magnetic levitation (MAGLEV) train network. The consortium of German industrial giants ThyssenKrupp and Siemens built the current magnetically levitated train in Shanghai, the only such space-age commercial rail line in the world. The trains, which travel at up to 430 kilometers (270 miles) per hour, currently run 30 kilometers from Shanghai's Pudong airport to the city's financial district. In March China and Germany agreed to a preliminary deal that would extend the current line from the airport to the neigboring city of Hangzhou -- a 170-kilometer route -- at a reported cost of over four billion dollars. China had been pushing for a final arrangement and hoped to sign it during Merkel's trip, German officials said. But they said Germany was not happy with some of the conditions -- notably the technology transfers -- being demanded by the Chinese. Merkel again raised the issue of China's intellectual property rights violations in an address to the German Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai. After lunching with Shanghai mayor Han Zheng, the chancellor boarded the MAGLEV for the airport, from where she departed China. On Monday President Hu Jintao met Merkel and said her visit was a step forward in relations. "Madam Chancellor's visit increased both sides' mutual understanding and pushed forward exchanges in various fields and will be beneficial to pushing forward the development of China-German relations," Hu said.