Congress unhappy as Hu took only two questions on human rights and trade before heading off to other meeting

This article is more than 9 years old

This article is more than 9 years old

The Chinese president, Hu Jintao, was given a chilly reception in Congress today, where both Republicans and Democrats were outspoken on China's human rights record and what they claim are Beijing's unfair trading practices.

Members of the House said afterwards that there had not been enough time to air their complaints as Hu only took two questions before going on to hold a separate meeting with senior senators.

Hu met John Boehner, the house speaker, and the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, both of whom shunned invitations to the state dinner for the Chinese leader on last night.

The Republican leader in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, also turned down the invitation.

The only member of the congressional "big four" to attend the dinner was the Democratic house leader, Nancy Pelosi.

The hostile reception on Capitol Hill contrasts with Hu's day with Barack Obama yesterday, when the US president pushed him over human rights but otherwise put the stress on common ground.

China's state TV media lapped up the pomp of the visit but largely avoided mention of the part of the Obama-Hu press conference when the Chinese president was pressed on human rights.

Reid, the most powerful Democrat in Congress, called Hu a dictator in an interview on Tuesday night, but made a half-hearted retraction the next day: "Maybe I shouldn't have said 'dictator', but they have a different type of government than we have – and that is an understatement."

The two posed for pictures in the Senate today, but aides insisted they would not take questions. A reporter asked how Reid expected to get any business done with a man he had called a dictator, but neither man responded.

Afterwards Howard Berman, a Democrat, said it had been frustrating that there had been no time to discuss the strong yuan, which members of Congress repeatedly claim is being manipulated by Beijing to help China's trade balance.

Boehner said it was a good meeting and that he had raised lack of religious freedom, China's failure to respect intellectual property rights and Beijing's need to exercise more influence over North Korea.

"Chinese leaders have a responsibility to do better and the United states has a responsibility to hold them to account," Boehner said.

Pelosi asked about human rights, in particular the fate of the jailed dissident Liu Xiaobo, a Nobel laureate. Democrat Sandy Levin said Hu had given the same reply as he had at the White House: that China needed to do more on human rights.

Tonight in a speech to US business leaders before leaving for Chicago, Hu said the US-China relationship must be based on mutual respect. Ignoring Pelosi's expression of concern only hours earlier about Tibet, Hu said the US must recognise that Tibet and Taiwan are "issues that concern China's territorial integrity and China's core interests."

The house foreign affairs committee yesterday held a meeting to coincide with Hu's visit to the White House. Among those at the meeting were the Republican Dana Rohrabacher, one of the most hostile members of Congress towards Beijing, who told CNN Hu is "a gangster regime that murders its own people". In a separate interview, Rohrabacher described the Chinese government as Nazis.

Little of substance has so far emerged from the visit. Much of a $45bn (£28bn) in trade deals had been announced earlier. The only concrete announcement is China's agreement to extend the stay of two pandas at Washington national zoo by five years.