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Diplomatic wrangle mars Peng's France visit

PARIS: Chinese Premier Li Peng's visit to France was marred by a diplomatic wrangle with his French counterpart Alain Juppe over human rights in Beijing.

Li and Juppe dropped the normal exchange of banquet toasts after objecting to references to human rights in each other's drafts, French officials said.

"There was no concesssion on either side, and therefore it was agreed that the toasts would not be delivered," on official said.

Li had kept Juppe waiting for 90 minutes before their private meeting could begin on Wednesday evening, and the two then spent another 90 minutes behind closed doors attempting to resolve their differences.

That delayed a ceremony for China's signing of $2 billion in trade deals with France and the later banquet at which the toasts were to have been delivered.

In his remarks, Juppe had been expected to say that a durable Franco-Chinese partnership meant a political dialogue in which all subjects were discussed with no taboos.

He was expected to reiterate Paris' view that it sought a dialogue rather than a confrontation on human rights.

There was no immediate word on what Li had planned to say.

The disagreement did not prevent Chinese officials from signing five trade deals with France or from attending the banquet.

But just before the dinner, some 2,300 protesters marched from Trocadero Square towards the Chinese embassy waving banners including "Freedom for China and Tibet" and "Li Peng, murderer".

The march was orderly but police barred protesters from getting within shouting distance of Beijing's mission. Police also prevented a delegation from presenting a letter addressed to the Chinese leader.

The demonstrators charged that, for the sake of business, France was ignoring Li's role in the crushing of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, China's repression of dissidents and its occupation of Tibet.

Earlier on Wednesday, police had stifled the first protest to mar Li's controversial visit.

Some 150 Amnesty International activists briefly unfurled a banner proclaiming "Li Peng ignores human rights. We don't!" across the central Champs-Elysees avenue before it was torn down by riot police armed with tear-gas guns.

Protesters blew whistles and displayed posters recalling the crushing of the 1989 student-led democracy movement in Beijing.

After an hour-long standoff in which police surrounded the demonstrators on the pavement, 157 activists were bundled into police vans and driven away, sirens blaring. Amnesty said they were later released after identity checks.

"China executes three times as many people as the rest of the world put together," said Michel Forst, head of Amnesty's French branch, before being led away. "French leaders mustn't forget human rights when they negotiate trade deals."

But Foreign Minister Herve de Charette denied in a radio interview that France was turning a blind eye to human rights. "There is no question of sacrificing human rights for trade. We are not putting our principles away in our pockets," he said.-Reuter