China's heir apparent leader is defending hiscounty's widely criticized human rights record butacknowledging there is room for improvement.
Vice President Xi Jinping (She JIN'-ping) said hehad candid discussions on the issue at the WhiteHouse, where he met Tuesday with President BarackObama and Vice President Joe Biden.
Xi told a luncheon at the State Department thatChina had made "tremendous" achievements on humanrights in the past 30 years.
He added: "Of course there's always room forimprovement."
He said China was ready to hold a constructivedialogue on human rights with the U.S. and othercountries.
Biden said the U.S. has been clear on areas in whichit believes conditions in China have deterioratedand the plight of several prominent individuals.
