China committed to protecting human rights

China is always committed to the protection and promotion of human rights and has made enormous progress in this regard, Hu told the press conference.

"China recognizes and respects the universality of human rights. And at the same time, we do believe that we also need to take into account the different national circumstances when it comes to the universal value of human rights," he said.

Noting that China is a developing country with a huge population and in a crucial stage of reform, Hu said that China faces many challenges in its socioeconomic development and that "a lot still needs to be done in China in terms of human rights."

"We will continue our efforts to improve the living standards of the Chinese people and will continue our efforts to promote democracy and the rule of law in our country," Hu said.

China, he added, is also willing to conduct exchanges and dialogues with other countries on human rights on the basis of mutual respect and the principle of non-interference in each other's internal affairs.

"In this way, we'll be able to further increase our mutual understanding, reduce our disagreements and expand our common ground," Hu said.

Pomote people-to-people exchanges

During their talks, the two presidents also agreed to take positive steps to further increase people-to-people exchanges between the two countries, Hu said.

Stressing that exchanges between the two peoples represent the basis and the driving force behind the growth of China-U.S. relationship, he said that robust bilateral people-to-people exchanges have helped promote the steady growth of China-U.S. relations.

"Each year we have about 3 million people traveling between our two countries. In other words, on every single day about 7,000 to 8,000 people are traveling between China and the United States," Hu said.

He added that the Chinese government supports the friendly exchanges between the two peoples and has been creating all kinds of conditions to expand such programs.