Nancy Pelosi tables rights outcry on China trip

Would any American voters question her on her change of stance?

Boston Herald
Tuesday, May 26, 2009

SHANGHAI - U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, long a critic of Beijing, toured China’s financial capital yesterday on a visit focused on environmental issues with only brief words about human rights.

Pelosi took a low-key approach as she prepared for meetings in Beijing days ahead of the 20th anniversary of the 1989 crackdown on Tiananmen Square democracy protests. Her shift dovetails with President Obama’s new emphasis on engagement with Beijing, rather than confrontation over human rights.

The House speaker’s reputation as a human rights defender drew petitioners in Beijing, where several hundreds gathered yesterday to air grievances. While many complaints were about individual cases, photos posted on the Chinese-language Web site Boxun.com, a U.S.-hosted Web site banned in China, showed one group of demonstrators holding up a black-and-white cloth banner saying: “Welcome Pelosi. Pay close attention to human rights. SOS.”

“I will continue to speak out for human rights in China and around the world,” Pelosi told the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai. On a 1991 visit to Beijing, Pelosi unfurled a banner that read “To those who died for democracy in China.” Years later, she tried to present human rights petitions to then-visiting President Hu Jintao.