UN Sec-Gen Ban Ki-moon (L) meets Chinese President Hu
Jintao at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.
UN chief Ban Ki-moon on Monday met Chinese President Hu Jintao, amid calls for the secretary-general to publicly raise the case of jailed dissident Liu Xiaobo, this year's Nobel Peace Prize winner.Ban and Hu met at the Great Hall of the People in the centre of Beijing, one day after the leader of the world body discussed the situation in Myanmar with Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi in Shanghai.
The UN leader on Sunday attended ceremonies led by Premier Wen Jiabao to mark the end of the six-month World Expo in Shanghai.
The Chinese president praised Ban for his "effective work" in promoting world peace and stability, as well as improving international cooperation.
Ban - who is making his fourth visit to China since taking over as UN secretary general in 2007 - congratulated Hu on the successful staging of the World's Fair in opening comments before reporters were ushered out of the room.
Ban has not scheduled a press conference during his stay in Beijing, at which he would likely face reporters' questions about the case of Liu, who was jailed for 11 years in December on subversion charges.
Beijing has expressed outrage at the Nobel committee's decision to honour Liu, saying he is a convicted criminal and urging the international community to respect China's judicial sovereignty.
Several Western leaders including US President Barack Obama, last year's Nobel peace laureate, have called for Liu's immediate release.
Ban said the Nobel award recognised a "growing international consensus for improving human rights practices and culture around the world" but did not openly criticise China, which has veto power in the UN Security Council.
In an open letter to Ban before his China trip, Human Rights Watch urged him to take up Liu's case with the Chinese leadership, saying it was "deeply disappointed" with his public remarks about the matter.
"You failed to call for his release or to note that his wife, Liu Xia, was put under house arrest immediately after the prize was announced. Moreover, you never addressed the core reason for Liu's politicised detention," it said.
Liu, 54, was jailed after co-authoring Charter 08, a petition calling for democratic reforms in one-party China that has been circulated on the Internet and signed by thousands.
The New York-based watchdog called on Ban to "urge the government to roll back its constraints on human rights defenders, including civil society groups and lawyers".
AFP/ac/de
