President Bill Clinton has urged China to ease its restrictions on dissent.

In his first comments on the crackdown on pro-democracy activists, Mr Clinton said in his State of the Union address: 'In China, I said to the leaders and people what I say again tonight: stability can no longer be bought at the expense of freedom.' But Mr Clinton stressed the recent human rights setbacks would not alter his plans to keep working with Beijing. 'The more we bring China into the world, the more the world will bring change and freedom to China,' he said.