US policy towards Beijing has come under blistering attack from dissident Wei Jingsheng.
In his first speech in Washington since his release from a mainland jail last November, Mr Wei accused the State Department of 'beautifying' China in its latest human rights report, released last week.
He warned that in the name of their engagement policy, US officials were ignoring signals that Beijing viewed America not as a friend, but an enemy to be defeated.
He said: 'In order to ease domestic pressure resulting from suppression of human rights and the democracy movement by the Chinese Government, the US Government has gone so far as to disregard the facts and beautify the Chinese communists in this year's human rights report.
'The danger lies in the fact it shows that the Chinese communists have learned how to make use of the political weaknesses of the US in order to control American politics, and have learned how to draw the American Government into their trap,' he said.
In his speech, to the Council on Foreign Relations, Mr Wei criticised American trade with China.
