BEIJING: German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Tuesday emphasised the need to respect human rights and discussed media freedom with journalists critical of Beijing during the second day of her visit to China.

"The issue of human rights is of vital importance from our point of view," Merkel told an audience at the Chinese Academy of Social Science, the nation's top government think tank.

Merkel earlier met with a group of journalists who have criticised the Beijing government, including Li Datong, the former editor of a hard-hitting weekly supplement in the mass-circulation China Youth Daily.

The supplement was suspended early last year, and Li was sacked from his position as editor at the orders of the ruling Communist Party's Central Propaganda Department.

Merkel met with four journalists and authors, according to a German embassy spokesman.

The meeting with the four reflected Merkel's wish to focus on the development of the Chinese media during her visit, Li told AFP afterwards.

"This demonstrates that the chancellor is herself very interested in the progress of democracy and media freedom in Chinese society," he said.

Merkel, who grew up in communist East Germany, had a better feel for life in a non-democratic society, according to Li.

"She would have a first-hand understanding of what things are like under an autocratic system," he said. "In this area, she would have more understanding than other western leaders."

Paris-based Reporters Without Borders ranks China 163rd out of 167 countries on its global press freedom index, and says at least 30 journalists are behind bars across the country for defying the Communist Party.

Apart from Li, Merkel also met with Zhao Mu, a well-known blogger, He Yanguang, a prominent photographer, and Zhan Jiang, a journalism professor, according to a German embassy spokesman.

On her first visit to China last year after becoming chancellor, Merkel also sought to interact with the civil community, meeting the Catholic Bishop of Shanghai.

"The world will be watching China to an extent not seen for many years," Merkel said in her speech at the think tank on Tuesday.

"Of course, one of the things that will be watched is how China appears in terms of freedom of opinion and freedom of the press."

The speech also covered other aspects of Sino-German ties, as well as environmental issues.

On Monday, the German leader raised human rights and other controversial issues, such as climate change, counterfeit products and substandard Chinese exports, during meetings with President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao.

Merkel travelled on Tuesday from the capital to the eastern city of Nanjing, where she was due to attend cultural and academic events. She will stay in China until Wednesday, and then travel on to Japan.

A delegation of 25 heads of German companies and industry representatives are travelling with Merkel, but as of Tuesday, only a handful of commercial deals had been signed.

The China Daily newspaper said in an editorial Merkel's entourage would find "a sea of opportunities" in China, but said bilateral collaboration went "far beyond business."

"It is amazing that despite the differences in their political institutions, the two countries have managed to forge such a constructive partnership," the editorial said.

The chancellor is both the leader of Europe's biggest economy and the president of the Group of Eight most industrialised nations, a role Japan will take over in 2008.


- AFP/so