German Chancellor Angela Merkel delivers a speech at the Chinese Academy of Social Science in Beijing, China, Thursday, Feb. 2, 2012. Merkel called Thursday on China, the biggest buyer of Iranian oil, to use its influence to persuade Tehran to renounce possible nuclear weapons ambitions. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
German Chancellor Angela Merkel delivers a speech at the Chinese Academy of Social Science in Beijing, China, Thursday, Feb. 2, 2012. Merkel called Thursday on China, the biggest buyer of Iranian oil, to use its influence to persuade Tehran to renounce possible nuclear weapons ambitions. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
German Chancellor Angela Merkel listens to a translation at the Chinese Academy of Social Science in Beijing, China, Thursday, Feb. 2, 2012. Merkel called Thursday on China, the biggest buyer of Iranian oil, to use its influence to persuade Tehran to renounce possible nuclear weapons ambitions. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
German Chancellor Angela Merkel walks near German and China national flags as she arrives to deliver a speech at the Chinese Academy of Social Science in Beijing, China, Thursday, Feb. 2, 2012. Merkel called Thursday on China, the biggest buyer of Iranian oil, to use its influence to persuade Tehran to renounce possible nuclear weapons ambitions. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
German Chancellor Angela Merkel delivers a speech at the Chinese Academy of Social Science in Beijing, China, Thursday, Feb. 2, 2012. Merkel called Thursday on China, the biggest buyer of Iranian oil, to use its influence to persuade Tehran to renounce possible nuclear weapons ambitions. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
BEIJING (AP) ? China's main ruling party newspaper criticized sanctions on Iran during a visit by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and a human rights lawyer said police barred him from a scheduled meeting with the German leader.
The tensions over Iran and human rights came amid a visit in which Merkel and Chinese leaders pledged closer commercial ties. The Chinese premier said Thursday that Beijing might contribute to European bailout funds, though he made no financial commitment.
Merkel on Thursday urged Beijing, the biggest buyer of Iranian oil, to help persuade Tehran to avoid developing nuclear weapons. The communist government has previously rejected sanctions.
Chinese leaders did not respond publicly but the Communist Party newspaper People's Daily said Friday that Western efforts to pressure Iran with an oil embargo are "casting a shadow over the global economy."
It appealed to other governments to "keep calm and restrained and not escalate tensions."
China, the world's second-largest economy, gets about 10 percent of its oil imports from Iran. Chinese analysts say an embargo could be damaging because Beijing would be hard-pressed to replace those supplies.
Also Friday, a lawyer who has defended dissidents, Mo Shaoping, said he was invited to a dinner Thursday with Merkel but police visited him that afternoon and told him he could not attend. The dinner was to be followed by a private meeting with Merkel to discuss China's legal environment and lawyers who have been harassed by the government.
Mo is one of China's most prominent human rights lawyers and has defended scores of pro-democracy, labor and religious rights activists.
Mo said the officers from the state security unit of the Beijing police cited the need to maintain stability ahead of a Communist Party congress late this year. The congress is a key event in a politically sensitive, once-a-decade transfer of power to younger leaders.
"There was no legal basis for them to restrict my freedom as a citizen," Mo said. "I also think it's not wise for the persons who had made the decision."
A spokesman for Merkel, Steffen Seibert, confirmed that Mo was blocked from the dinner, according to the German Embassy, which declined to comment further. The Chinese foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Merkel said earlier her agenda in Beijing would include "sensitive topics" such as human rights and the rule of law.
On Friday, Hu told Merkel that Beijing wants to develop a "strategic partnership" and commercial relations with Germany, the official Xinhua News Agency reported. There was no mention of whether they discussed Iran or human rights.
Later Friday, Merkel and Premier Wen Jiabao flew to the southern Chinese business center of Guangzhou and visited a German-owned factory that produces tunneling equipment due to be used in the expansion of the city's subway system.
China is "willing to cooperate with Europe to fight the current crisis," Wen said at a business forum in Guangzhou.
"Some people say this means China wants to buy Europe. This is a concern and doesn't fit reality," Wen said. "China doesn't have this intention and doesn't have this ability."
Businesspeople at the event included the CEOs of Volkswagen AG and Siemens AG and the chairman of Chinese computer maker Lenovo Group.
The European Union imposed an oil embargo on Iran last week and froze the assets of its central bank. In December, the United States said it would bar financial institutions from the U.S. market if they do business with Iran's central bank.
Merkel said Thursday at an appearance with Wen that sanctions on Iran were unavoidable.
The People's Daily commentary repeated previous Chinese arguments but the decision to publish it while Merkel was visiting suggested Beijing's attitude might be hardening.
The message "is that China hopes the United States and Iran can sit down and talk, and try not to use military force to resolve the problem," said Wang Lian, an Iran specialist at Peking University's School of International Studies.
China depends on crude from Iran and other Gulf suppliers such as Saudi Arabia, so "if war broke out between the United States and Iran and the Strait of Hormuz were sealed off, China would be the first to suffer," Wang said.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner visited Beijing in January to lobby China to buy less Iranian oil. Chinese leaders did not respond publicly but officials said energy relations with Iran had no connection to its nuclear program.
On Thursday, Merkel appealed to Beijing to "make Iran understand that the world should not have another nuclear power."
Merkel's visit also is aimed at reassuring Beijing about Europe's financial health following agreement this week on a treaty on government spending that its leaders hope will end their debt crisis and revive economic growth.
The 27-nation European Union is China's biggest export market and Beijing's stake in its financial health is growing as Chinese companies expand there. China's biggest producer of construction equipment announced this week it was buying Germany's Putzmeister, a maker of concrete pumps.
Merkel is the first of several European leaders to visit China this month for talks expected largely to focus on the economic crisis.
Wen said Thursday a resolution of Europe's debt crisis is "urgent" and China might play a bigger role by contributing to the European Financial Stability Fund and the 500 billion euro ($650 billion) ESM, due to begin operation in July.
European leaders want China, with $3.2 trillion in foreign reserves, and other global investors help expand the bailout funds.
Merkel said her agenda also included "more sensitive topics" such as human rights and the rule of law but gave no details. She said she planned to raise complaints about Chinese market barriers to foreign companies.
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AP researchers Zhao Liang and Yu Bing and AP writer Christopher Bodeen contributed.
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