Published by: World Tibet Network News 97/05/20 24:00 GMT

BEIJING, May 16 (AFP) - France called Friday for the release of top

Chinese and Tibetan dissidents in a list of 17 cases handed over in Beijing.

Foreign Minister Herve de Charette told AFP he handed over the list, which

includes Wei Jingsheng and Wang Dan, and made oral representations to his

counterpart Qian Qichen during their meeting Friday.

He refused to reveal the identities of the other 15 detainees, but said the

list included a number of Tibetans and that Qian "had taken notice" of his

request.

Wei and Wang, China's two most famous dissidents, are both serving long

prison sentences for convictions of counter-revolution for calling for

democratic reforms.

The request came as a sting in the tail to a sweeping declaration signed

Friday by Chinese President Jiang Zemin and his French counterpart Jacques

Chirac that envisaged a new world order and recognised different human rights

standards.

China has become increasingly hostile to criticism of its curbs on freedom

of speech in recent months and frequently attacks the United States and Europe

for attempting to impose a western value system on China.

A month before Chirac's visit, Paris delighted Beijing by refusing to back

a UN motion critical of China's human rights record, and Jiang noted the event

in the document by praising France's "constructive attitude" over human

rights.

French sources said Chirac had also urged China to begin talks with the

Vatican and with the Dalai Lama on the future of Tibet, although Chinese

spokesman Tang Guoqiang said categorically the issue of political prisoners

and Tibet "were not raised" during the Jiang-Chirac meetings.

Beijing, which considers the Dalai Lama a top public enemy, has said it

will not consider talks with the spiritual leader until he ceases his alleged

separatist activities.

China is likewise in a stalemate with the Vatican. Roman Catholicism is

virtually banned in China, where Beijing controls a "patriotic church" which

rejects the supremacy of the Vatican in church affairs.

The family of Wang Dan, a former student leader in the 1989 pro-democracy

demonstrations, welcomed the appeal but said they held out little hope.

"We are very happy that the French government should take such action. But

I don't have much hope that Wang Dan will be freed soon," said his father Wang

Xainzhen by telephone.