OTTAWA - Michael Ignatieff says deepening Canada's relations with China will do more to improve human rights than any amount of lecturing or finger-wagging.

The Liberal leader is using a six-day tour of China to directly make his pitch for a "more ambitious" relationship between Canada and the economic powerhouse.

He is promoting the idea of a "global network agreement" that would go well beyond what he terms "old-fashioned" trade deals.

The agreement would be aimed at increasing connections between people in the two countries across a wide-range of pursuits -- from business and investment to education, arts and culture and research and development.

Ignatieff says the two countries need to be able to "speak plainly" to each other about human rights, recognizing that neither has an unblemished record.

But he says the development of personal relationships will be the best antidote to human rights abuses in the Communist regime.

"Canada can contribute more to the development of human rights and to strengthening the rule of law through this array of people-to-people interactions than by megaphone diplomacy," Ignatieff said in a speech Monday to student's at Beijing's Tsinghua University.

Before returning to Canada in 2006 to enter federal politics, Ignatieff headed the Carr Centre for Human Rights at Harvard University.

Ignatieff said his Chinese students often disagreed with others about issues such as the death penalty, religious freedom, economic liberalization and democratic rights.

"I made it clear that the ultimate decision about these questions will be made not by foreigners but by the Chinese people themselves," he said in the speech, the text of which was made available in Ottawa.

Ignatieff said Canadians must recognize that China has already made one of the most significant advances ever seen in human rights through its efforts to lift hundreds of millions of Chinese out of poverty -- a point he said he's careful to make with Chinese officials.

"I will always seek to acknowledge the enormous progress that China has made and share my honest views about the progress that is still possible," he said.

As part of his first foreign tour as Liberal leader, Ignatieff met Monday with several Communist Party officials, including the vice-chair of the party's international department and the international liaison minister.

He is scheduled to meet Tuesday with the foreign affairs minister and the chairman of the China Investment Corporation before travelling to Shanghai.

In a phone interview from Beijing, Ignatieff said he's raised human rights issues in each of his meetings so far and found officials appeared to appreciate his "bluntness and directness." In turn, he said they were very candid about some of the enormous challenges facing the country, despite its economic muscle.

He said he's found officials receptive to his idea of expanding Canada-China relations.

"They're treating us with enormous attention and respect," he said.

His reception is at least partly due to the fond memories the Chinese retain of former Liberal prime ministers Pierre Trudeau, who opened diplomatic relations with China, and Jean Chretien and Paul Martin , who headed Team Canada trade missions to China.

Ignatieff said Chinese President Hu Jintao, whom he met briefly in Ottawa last month, mentioned the Liberal party's record of friendly relations.

That's in contrast to the chill that until recently marked relations between China and Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservative government.

Although he's lambasted Harper in the past for alternately ignoring or hectoring China, Ignatieff said he's not about to repeat such partisan criticism while he's abroad.

"It's not appropriate," he said. "The country comes first."