CHINA SET TO BAR VISITORS TO WOMEN'S CONFERENCE

by Teresa Poole

(The Independent, 23 August 1995)

Concerns that China is exercising an unauthorised power of veto over participation in the UN international women's forum grew yesterday when a government spokesman said that some delegates who are viewed by the Chinese to "threaten the safety" of the conference would be denied visas.

Chen Jian, the Foreign Ministry spokesman, said only a "very small" number of organisations or people would be affected. However, the Chinese stance appears to violate the principles under which China was chosen to host the United Nations conference. Under these, any person accredited by the UN for the official Fourth World Conference on Women, or correctly registered for the parallel Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) Forum must be given a visa by Peking.

Yesterday's comments will accentuate the mistrust and confusion which is already overshadowing the meetings. Bureaucratic delays in China's handling of the vast load of paperwork mean that thousands of women planning to attend the NGO Forum, which starts next Wednesday, have still not received their visas, Mr Chen's comments will confirm suspicion that some of the "delays" may be politically motivated.

A few organisations and individuals are experiencing particular difficulties. Two members of the Washington office of Amnesty International have not been given visas yet. Jim O'Dea, the director of the office, said the Chinese embassy had told the two women that "they will have to wait at this point".

The organisation would be making "a strong protest" if the visas did not come through by the end of this week, he added.

Amnesty has said it will challenge China to follow the rules

of a UN conference by bringing ir. publications on human rights, and the autobiography of the detained human-rights activist Harry Wu.

Two German Social Democratic MPs, of whom one has protested against executions in China, have also been refused visas. Other activists reportedly having difficulties with visas include those representing Tibetan women.

Ever since China abruptly shifted the NGO Forum to Huairou, more than 50km outside Peking, international women's groups have feared the Chinese planned to limit the number of NGO participants, and control the meeting. Mr Chen admitted that there had been delays for visas, but blamed this on the unexpectedly large number of delegates.

The majority of people who do not receive visas in time will be victims of this bureaucratic chaos. But Mr Chen yesterday specified "two categories" of people who would not be permitted visas for the NGO Forum. He described the first as "those the UN has decided not to invite". In fact, the UN only has the power to bar NGO groups from having "observer status" at the official governmental conference but does not exercise any control over attendance at the NGO Forum."The other category," Mr Chen said, "is those whose activities are deemed by China as running against the principles and policies of the UN Charter, whose activities actually threaten the safety of this conference." He said he knew of only "three, four or five" groups or people in this category.

Asked if this power of veto was not at odds with China's earlier commitments on providing visas, Mr Chen said: "China is responsible for guaranteeing the smooth and safe proceeding of the conference and also the personal safety of all the attendants of the conference."