Updated at
2.36pm:
Several hundred demonstrators gathered outside the
hotel where Vice-President Hu Jintao is staying during his first
visit to New York.
Many were there to welcome China's leader in waiting, while
others protested Chinese rule in Tibet.
Holding
Chinese flags and luminescent glow sticks, hundreds of people stood
across the street from the Waldorf-Astoria hotel hoping to see the
vice president.
''We want to welcome him,'' said Bartar Wu, chairman of the
Beijing-USA Association. ''We want the US and China to be
friendly.''
Mr Hu is scheduled to ring the opening bell at the New York Stock
Exchange on Monday. He also plans to meet with President Bush and
Vice-President Dick Cheney in Washington.
Steven Chen, a 17-year-old student who lives with his family in
Manhattan, said he braved the rainy night to show support for his
country.
''I love China,'' he said. ''I'm here to support my
vice-president. If China is better, I'm better.''
But others in the crowd were not happy to see Mr Hu, who is
widely expected to become China's next president.
''We want to let him know that he's not welcome here,'' said
Lhadon Tethong, a spokeswoman for Students for a Free Tibet. ''We
want to raise awareness with the American public that the future
president of China is responsible for one of the darkest periods in
our history.''
The 59-year-old vice president rarely travels abroad. Vice
president since 1998, he was chosen by late supreme leader Deng
Xiaoping to succeed President Jiang Zemin.
He was party secretary in Tibet in 1989 when soldiers opened fire
on Tibetans protesting Chinese rule. Last summer, he was quoted as
vowing to crush Tibetans campaigning against Chinese rule.
Dozens of members of China's banned Falun Gong spiritual group
also protested outside the Park Avenue hotel. Police reported no
arrests early on
Monday.
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