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Beijing: US President George W. Bush on Sunday worshipped at a Beijing church in a bid to press for wider religious freedom in China and met the country's Communist leaders for what Bush promised would be "candid" discussions.
Bush, who has insisted sports and politics do not mix, spent the day blending high-level diplomacy with some Olympic fun - watching a gold medal win by American swimmer Michael Phelps and seeing Chinese President Hu Jintao for private talks.
"I enjoy our conversations... our relationship is constructive and it's important and also very candid," Bush said as he sat down with Hu after earlier attending a prayer service at a Communist government-sanctioned church.
"I had a very uplifting experience going to a church," he said and thanked Hu for helping to arrange the visit.
Strong feelings
"I feel very strongly about religion," Bush added. He has repeatedly said he uses private talks with Hu to discuss frankly human rights as well as freedom of speech and religion in China.
Bush's trip to Beijing has been a delicate balancing act, enjoying the Olympic games and praising China on a variety of issues while publicly nudging China to improve its internationally criticised record on human rights.
Despite China's rejection of his prodding on religion, Bush, a frequent churchgoer with a strong base among Christian fundamentalists, has made appeals for greater religious liberties a focus of his efforts to coax China toward democratic reforms.
Bush declared outside the Kuanjie Protestant church that "it just goes to show that God is universal, God is love and no state, man or woman should fear the influence of loving religion."
The service, almost entirely in Chinese but translated for Bush and his family, was held in a modest building with a plain white cross on the roof and included a children's choir performing "Amazing Grace" in English and Chinese.
Many other Christians, who make up only a small part of China's religious faithful, worship at so-called underground churches. After meeting Hu, Bush also saw Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and China's vice president, Xi Jinping.
Bush has also been receiving updates from aides on the rapidly changing developments on the fighting between Russia and Georgia. And he expressed sorrow for the death of a relative of a US Olympic team coach who was killed by an unemployed Chinese man on Saturday.
As Bush and Hu sat down for their talks, the Chinese leader focused his remarks to reporters on the Olympics and thanked Bush for his fourth trip to China, the most by a sitting US president.
True testament
"This is a true testament to the importance you place on relations with China," Hu said through a translator.
Rights advocates and leading lawmakers at home, some of whom had urged Bush to boycott the Olympics, have chided him for not speaking out more forcefully about the human rights situation in China and the crackdown on dissent in the run-up to the Games.
Many analysts see Bush's handling of China relations as a relative bright spot in a foreign policy record dominated by the unpopular war in Iraq.
He needs China's help to curb North Korean and Iranian nuclear ambitions, thus limiting US leverage to press for rapid political reforms of the one-party state. Washington is also mindful of Beijing's increasing economic clout.
In between church and his meetings, Bush stopped by the Olympic swimming venue, dubbed the Water Cube, to see Phelps capture the gold medal in the 400 metres individual medley final and break his own world record.
"I looked up and saw President Bush giving me the thumbs up and holding the American flag. That was pretty cool," he said afterwards.
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