The New Nation - Internet Edition

AP, Beijing

President Hu Jintao has vowed that China will work with the international community in promoting human rights, state media said Friday, but the promise follows recent arrests of leading activists.

Hu said China would "base its human rights development on the basic situation of the country," Xinhua news agency said, a caveat used by China to apply its own human rights standards.

Hu's comments came in a letter to the China Society for Human Rights Studies to mark Wednesday's 60th anniversary of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Several Chinese dissidents have been detained in the lead-up to the anniversary, including prominent dissident writer Liu Xiaobo, a leading figure in the 1989 Tiananmen Square democracy protests.

The detentions drew criticism from the United States on Thursday, with the State Department expressing "deep concern."

Hu's letter said China would "strengthen international cooperation, as it has always done, in the human rights field," Xinhua said.

However, he indicated China would prioritise raising living standards for its people.

Faced with criticism over its human rights record, China typically replies that lifting people out of poverty through economic development is its key human rights priority.