2:13 p.m. | Updated There was not much give and take as President Hu Jintao of China met with House members this morning, according to those who were in attendance. Representative Kevin Brady, a Republican of Texas, called it “mostly speechifying.”  After a day of being toasted at the White House, Mr. Hu traveled to the chillier end of Pennsylvania Avenue on Thursday to meet with lawmakers waiting to take him to task over testy issues such as human rights to trade policy.  But the format of the meetings — lawmakers afterwards described a meeting with House leaders as stilted and formal – didn’t allow for quite as much barbed criticism as some of the congressional members apparently had hoped.  “We weren’t given a chance,” Rep. Sander Levin, Democrat of Michigan, said afterward.  He and other lawmakers said that Mr. Hu delivered prepared remarks lasting about 20 minutes. The only Representatives who spoke were John Boehner, the House speaker, and Nancy Pelosi, the minority leader. Mr. Boehner brought up issues involving trade and North Korea, and Ms. Pelosi brought up human rights issues, including the treatment of Liu Xiaobao, the Nobel Prize winner.  “I had a really detailed question prepared about the WTO government procurement agreement,” Rep. Charles Boustany, Republican of Louisiana, said afterwards, referring to the lengthy process involving China’s accession to the World Trade Organization government procurement agreement.  Among the other House members who attended were:  Eric Cantor (Republican Leader) Kevin McCarthy (Republican Whip) Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (Chairman, Committee on Foreign Affairs) Steny Hoyer (Democratic Whip) Jim Clyburn (Democratic Assistant Leader) Howard Berman (Ranking Democrat, Committee on Foreign Affairs)  Mr. Hu also met with Senate leaders, including Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, who on Wednesday called Mr. Hu a “dictator” during an interview. The senators discussed concerns about China’s currency, which American officials worry remains undervalued, according to one congressional aide who was in the meeting.  It was never clear how sternly lawmakers might speak to Mr. Hu in private, but in public some of them have been a bit caustic, while others have been direct without stinging.  Mr. Boehner, in a statement after the House meeting, said: “China is now our second largest trading partner and will undoubtedly be a critical economic partner in the future. That’s why I believe it is important that we continue to resolve our differences in ways that benefit both of our countries and our people.  “In our meeting we addressed some of those challenges, including the need for stronger intellectual property protections in China and curtailing the aggressive behavior of North Korea.  “And finally, we raised our strong, ongoing concerns with reports of human rights violations in China, including the denial of religious freedom, and the use of coercive abortion as a consequence of the ‘one child’ policy. When it comes to guaranteeing the freedom and dignity of all her citizens, including and especially the unborn, Chinese leaders have a responsibility to do better, and the United States has a responsibility to hold them to account.”  On his way into today’s meeting with Senators, John McCain said, referring to the state dinner at the White House last night: “There’s a certain amount of irony that a Nobel Peace Prize winner should be hosting a dinner and last year’s Nobel Prize winner is under house arrest.”
Members of Congress raise issues of trade, human rights and abortion in meetings with President Hu of China, but some of them can only listen without speaking up.