EU resolution condemning China under renewed threat

Date: 08/01/1998

The EU is showing signs of abandoning its annual resolution condemning political and social oppression in China for the second year in a row, human rights groups are warning.

Since France and Germany decided not to co-sponsor the resolution at the UN Convention on Human Rights in Geneva last year, civil liberty lobbies have been pushing to make sure the same thing does not happen in 1998.

But the pall of secrecy surrounding the recent re-launch of the EU-China human rights dialogue, and signs that the European Commission is favouring a more 'constructive engagement' with Beijing, do not bode well.

Two EU-China meetings at the end of last year, one held in Luxembourg and the other in Peking, were not publicly announced and their specific content still remains under wraps.

In practice, according to the lobby group Human Rights Watch, the talks amount to very little while serving as an excuse for countries such as France to abandon the Geneva motion yet again.

Although the UK is likely push for a more concerted EU stance against human rights abuses during its six-month presidency, a new mood of pragmatism seems to be dominating the Union's relations with China. "If the choice is between cooperation which yields results and confrontation which achieves nothing, we will clearly favour cooperation," said a China expert in the Commission.

The institution is drafting a comprehensive assessment of the Union's commercial, economic and political relations with China, and may suggest an updated EU-China strategy to foreign ministers later this year.

The Commission's recent decision to remove China from its list of 'non-market' economies in anti-dumping cases is also indicative of a new willingness to listen to Beijing's demands.

Commission officials say this attitude helped to secure the release of dissident Wei Jingsheng, China's signature of the UN Convention on Economic and Social Rights (and possibly that on civil and political rights), and could persuade Beijing to allow a visit by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson.

They add that the EU is also helping China to secure the rule of law through judicial exchanges and training, and argue that a more combative approach in Geneva often only reinforces the split between rich and poor countries.

Human Rights Watch Brussels director Lotte Leicht is unconvinced. "If we cannot condemn China for human rights in the one body dedicated to human rights issues, where can we?" she asks.

The organisation adds that, in the meantime, China continues to suppress freedoms of assembly, association, expression and religion, and imposes inhumane punishments on those who try to exercise them.

UK officials say they are now awaiting British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook's visit to China at the end of this month before taking concrete decisions on the way ahead.