Two South Florida Republicans, members of the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee, turned their fire away from Cuba this week to focus it on another communist country — China.

U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, chairwoman of the committee, attended a meeting that Chinese leader Hu Jintao had with members of Congress and gave him a letter that she sent to President Barack Obama earlier in the month on a number of issues ranging from human rights concerns to economic matters.

"At the onset of the meeting, I hand-delivered to the Chinese leader a copy of a letter I sent to President Obama outlining strong concerns about Chinese actions on the security, economic, and human rights fronts,” said Ros-Lehtinen. “I then had an opportunity at the end of today’s meeting to challenge Mr. Hu to free Liu Xiaobo, Gao Zhisheng, and other dissidents held in prison; to respect the rights of the Tibetan and Uyghur people; to end the persecution of the underground Christians and Falun Gong practitioners, and to end China’s policy of forced abortion.”

Ros-Lehtinen added that the only issue the Chinese leader addressed was her point about that nation’s abortion policy.

“Out of all of the issues I raised, the only one which received a response from Mr. Hu was my statement urging the end of China’s forced abortion policy,” Ros-Lehtinen noted. “I was astonished when he insisted that such a policy does not exist.”

The congresswoman took exception to the praise China has received in recent days as Hu was feted at a state dinner at the White House earlier in the week.

"Chinese policies and actions are not those of a responsible actor,” said Ros-Lehtinen. "The U.S. and China do not share values and principles as some have claimed in recent days. A regime which shows a blatant disregard for the basic human dignity and rights of its citizens, which facilitates the proliferation activities of a pariah state like Iran, and which stands in the way of efforts by responsible nations to address the threats posed by Iran, North Korea, and other dangerous regimes, has little in common with the U.S.

"It is my hope that, going forward, the U.S. will implement a policy toward China which more strongly stands up for our interests and our values,” she added.

In the letter to Obama, Ros-Lehtinen warned the president not to underestimate China’s potential threat as a military rival and backer of regimes hostile to the U.S.

“The assertion by certain policymakers that China would emerge as a responsible stakeholder and even a strategic partner in addressing global issues of mutual concern, has proved sadly mistaken,” wrote Ros-Lehtinen. “From Tehran to Pyongyang and from Khartoum to Rangoon, Beijing has consistently adopted policy positions which are inconsistent with the advancement of global security and stability, and which undermine the interests of our nation. From the Yellow Sea in the north to the East China Sea and down to the South China Sea, Beijing’s military posturing has become a cause of concern for many regional friends and allies of the United States.”

Ros-Lehtinen also noted that China remained a threat to Taiwan.

“As you know, the Taiwan Relations Act of 1979 (TRA) specifies that it is U.S. policy to consider any nonpeaceful means to determine Taiwan’s future a threat to peace and security of the western Pacific area and of grave concern to the United States,” she noted in the letter. “Over those past three decades a steady course has been adopted by both Republican and Democratic administrations to maintain the security in the Taiwan Strait through both defensive arms sales and regular consultations. The six assurances offered by President Reagan to Taiwan in 1982 further clarified the commitment the United States has made to Taiwan’s security.”