China invites U.N. rights visit
21 January 1998
BEIJING (Reuters) - China Tuesday invited the United Nations' top human rights official to visit in a move Western countries hoped signaled a change in Beijing's attitude on what it has previously regarded as a purely internal matter.
The invitation to Mary Robinson, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, was intended "to strengthen cooperation with the United Nations in the field of human rights," foreign ministry spokesman Shen Guofang said.
U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright welcomed the news. "It's obviously a positive development," she said. "I think this is a good indicator that they are beginning to understand the importance of human rights to the international community."
British Foreign Minister Robin Cook, in Beijing on a visit, also offered cautious praise.
"China is beginning -- it has a long way to go -- but it is beginning down the road toward recognizing that the international community does have an interest in human rights that is not going to go away and that the appropriate way of responding is to have dialogue," Cook said in an interview with the British Broadcasting Corporation..
Spokesman Shen told a news briefing, "China is in favor of holding dialogue on human rights issues on the basis of mutual respect and equality. This dialogue will help dispel differences on the subject of human rights."
In Geneva, U.N. spokeswoman Therese Gastaut said no official invitation had yet been received and no dates had been discussed.
But she said Robinson, former Irish president, held talks Jan. 12 with China's ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva and "during this meeting the high commissioner stated she was ready to start a constructive dialogue with China on human rights issues.
"This would include the possibility of a visit by her to China."
U.S. rights experts hope a high-level dialogue will boost China's chances of signing the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights this year.
China has signed a twin pact on social and economic rights, which covers work conditions, trade unions and living standards.
There was speculation that China issued the invitation to deflect criticism of its rights record ahead of the start of the annual forum of the U.N. Commission on Human Rights.
The invitation came two months after China released from prison its most famous dissident, Wei Jingsheng, on medical parole and sent him into exile in the United States.
Cook Tuesday urged Chinese President Jiang Zemin to free other leading dissidents, including former student leader Wang Dan, jailed for 11 years for subversion in 1996.
Cook said he held extensive talks with Jiang on human rights in China and in Hong Kong, which reverted to Beijing's control last year after more than 150 years as a crown colony.
He said he pressed Jiang and Foreign Minister Qian Qichen, whom he met Monday, to release Wang and asked for fresh information on the whereabouts and conditions of 12 political prisoners on behalf of the European Union.
Although Cook failed to win a pledge by Beijing to release Wang or other dissidents, he said, "We will continue to press them until we have achieved a satisfactory outcome."
Another dissident, Lin Xinshu, made public a letter to Jiang Tuesday urging a Lunar New Year amnesty for all imprisoned activists.
Lin said dissidents should be allowed home for the "Spring Festival," the most important date in the Chinese calendar, which falls this year on Jan. 28.
"As we approach the Spring Festival, I urge the Chinese Communist Party central government and comrade Jiang Zemin to embrace a humanitarian spirit, release all political prisoners and improve the lives of all prisoners," the letter said.
Robinson took up her U.N. post last September after a seven-year term as president of Ireland.
