China criticized US President George W. Bush yesterday for meeting the Dalai Lama this week, and dismissed Washington's annual report on religious freedom as groundless.

deficit with China, US President George W. Bush will pressure China to make good on a pledge of economic concessions on an Asia tour that will also focus on fighting bird flu and North Korea's nuclear program, a top aide said on Thursday. " hspace=0 src="/images/404/404.jpg" align=baseline border=1> U.S. President George W. Bush looks up after signing a book of condolences at the Jordanian embassy in Washington November 10, 2005. [Reuters]

"The Dalai Lama is not a simple or a pure religious figure. He is a political exile who undertakes secessionist activities abroad," Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said at a regular news briefing. "We oppose meetings between him and other leaders."

Bush's White House meeting with the Dalai Lama on Wednesday came just days ahead of his Beijing visit scheduled for November 19-21.

"Other leaders should not provide a platform for him to separate the country," Liu said.

On Tuesday, the Bush administration, in a report to Congress, labelled China a serious violator of religious freedom along with Myanmar, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), Viet Nam, Iran, Sudan, Eritrea and Saudi Arabia.

Liu said the State Department's annual report on religious freedom, which said China restricts religious practice to State-sanctioned groups, made groundless accusations.

"We urge the US Government to stop interfering in China's religious affairs under the guise of the religion issue," Liu said, adding all people in all regions in China enjoy religious freedom in accordance with the law.

But Liu stressed the two incidents would not overshadow Bush's visit to Beijing.

"The importance will not be diminished by a single incident," he said. "The visit will achieve its planned goals."

Bush to seek China economic concessions

In the face of a widening U.S. trade deficit with China, US President George W. Bush will pressure China to make good on a pledge of economic concessions on an Asia tour that will also focus on fighting bird flu and North Korea's nuclear program, a top aide said on Thursday, the Reuters reported.

Bush, facing political turmoil at home over the Iraq war, soaring gasoline prices and a CIA leak probe, leaves on Monday for a week-long trip to Japan, South Korea, China and Mongolia.

White House National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley said Bush would try to advance cooperation on top priorities but did not expect to come home with specific agreements.

Struggling to contain a U.S. trade deficit with China that is running at an annual rate approaching $200 billion, Bush wants Chinese President Hu Jintao to liberalize China's currency system and let the yuan rise in value.

U.S. politicians and business lobby groups complain it has been kept at too low a level, harming U.S. manufacturers.

Hadley said China has done little to adjust the yuan currency since an initialadjustment was announced in July, and that Bush will urge Beijing to take additional steps toward a market-based currency.

"There was some initialadjustment, an initial evaluation, and very little since. And I think what the president will urge is that the Chinese begin to take steps toward their own stated objective that market factors be taken into account in the valuation of their currency," he said.

Bush will also urge China to take steps to protect intellectual property rights.

At the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Busan, South Korea, on November 18 and 19, Bush will seek to advance international cooperation on controlling avian flu and North Korea's nuclear weapons program.

The bird flu has killed 62 people in four countries, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia, and has become entrenched in poultry flocks across much of Asia and into Europe.

With a new round of talks currently under way about North Korea's nuclear program, Bush will try to maintain unity among the governments party to the negotiations -- the United States, Japan, South Korea, Russia and China -- while not trying to launch any new initiatives.

"While it will be a topic of discussion, you shouldn't expect any major new initiatives out of that," Hadley said.

In talks with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi in Kyoto, Bush will urge Koizumi to "use his strong electoral mandate to continue his efforts to promote economic reform," Hadley said.

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