Rice sends China a flotilla of not-too-friendly signals

BEIJING — Fresh from meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice did something on Sunday the Chinese might consider a little undiplomatic: She went to church.

For the chief American diplomat, who routinely describes herself as "deeply religious," attending Palm Sunday observances was a spiritual matter. She didn't bring along television cameras, and she chose a government-sanctioned church, not one of the underground parishes that the authorities rigorously repress.

Still, even such a relatively low-profile visit sent an unmistakable signal to China's Communist government — which sees independent religion as a rival for public loyalty — about the United States' insistence on religious freedom. And it wasn't the only such signal Rice sent on her six-day Asia swing, which ends today.

In Japan, she said China "must eventually embrace some form of open, genuinely representative government," the kind of comment China's authoritarian leaders resent. In South Korea, she blasted Europe's tentative decision to resume major weapons sales to China, which were halted after the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. China's rampant piracy of U.S.-made goods and anti-Taiwan rhetoric also drew the secretary's ire.

"What's striking now is the number of conflictual issues raised during Secretary Rice's trip," said David Lampton, director of China studies at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies in Washington.

Rice came to Beijing seeking help in getting North Korea to resume negotiations over its nuclear weapons program. But "marching across Asia lecturing the Chinese" is unlikely to help achieve that goal, Lampton said. "We've got such a laundry list (of concerns) I can't help but think the Chinese will wonder what our priority is. If North Korea is our priority . . . will these statements on these other issues erode China's willingness to cooperate?"

Rice's visit to Gangwashi Protestant Church, a gray stone structure built by British missionaries in 1922, illustrates the competing strains of U.S. policy.

To the United States, a rising China is both partner and rival. Rice has praised the country's efforts to cooperate with the United States' war on terrorism and said the White House welcomes the rise of a "confident, peaceful and prosperous China." State Department deputy spokesman Adam Ereli recently said China had taken several "noteworthy" steps to better its human rights record.