Pelosi, Bipartisan Congressional Delegation Meet with Chinese President and Other Top Leaders

Pelosi, Bipartisan Congressional Delegation Meet with Chinese President and Other Top Leaders

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Contact: Brendan Daly/Nadeam Elshami, Drew Hammill, 202-226-7616

Beijing, China - Speaker Nancy Pelosi and a bipartisan congressional delegation met today with the three top leaders of the Chinese government: President Hu Jintao, Premier Wen Jiabao, and Wu Bangguo, the Chairman of the National People's Congress.

In separate meetings with each leader, the delegation focused on issues of concern: North Korea's nuclear testing and missile launch, climate change and clean energy, human rights, intellectual property rights, and the global financial crisis.

"We had productive discussions about how the United States and China can cooperate on improving international security, growing our economies and protecting the environment," Pelosi said. "We urged the Chinese leaders to use their influence to help bring North Korea to the table for Six-Party Talks. On clean energy and climate change, both sides agreed to work together to confront the urgent challenge we face. Our delegation also emphasized the bipartisan concern in Congress on China's poor record on human rights in China and Tibet.”

â€Å"Republicans and Democrats are united in our concern about human rights abuses in China and Tibet,” said Congressman James Sensenbrenner, Republican of Wisconsin.

Earlier in the day, the congressional delegation participated in a two-hour working session with the Chinese National People's Congress' Environmental Protection and Resources Conservation Committee.

"Our meetings this week reinforced the urgent need for the United States and China to take concrete actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to help preserve our planet," said Congressman Edward Markey, Democrat of Massachusetts, Chair of the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, who co-chaired today's meeting with Chinese officials. "Today's session furthered our commitment to work together."

In addition to Pelosi, Sensenbrenner, and Markey, the other members of the congressional delegation traveling to China this week, all experts on issues related to clean energy and the environment, are Congressman Earl Blumenauer, Democrat of Oregon; Congressman Jay Inslee, Democrat of Washington state; and Congresswoman Jackie Speier, Democrat of California.