Pelosi-led House seen not rocking boat on China

A Democratic-controlled US House of Representatives led by frequent China critic Nancy Pelosi will intensify scrutiny of Chinese trade and human rights practices, but will stop short of confrontation, American and Chinese experts said.

The Democratic Party's capture of both the House and the Senate revived concerns about new trade protectionism against China, and raised hope among rights activists for more US pressure on Beijing.

Both the fears and the hopes are overblown, argue analysts, who point to vital US-China co-operation on curbing North Korea's nuclear ambitions and other global problems.

Pelosi, set to become speaker of the House, in 1991 went to Beijing's Tiananmen Square to honour victims of the massacre of democracy activists there two years earlier. She was surrounded by Chinese police who roughed up her entourage in an incident China denounced as a "premeditated farce."

The California liberal never fails to commemorate anniversaries of the June 4 killings, and has often voted against China on trade and security issues.

The Uighur American Association, a group representing exiles from the restive Chinese-controlled Muslim region of Xinjiang, this week hailed Pelosi as an "exceptional woman."