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

WASHINGTON, May 16 (AFP) - The US State Department said Friday that

European countries should speak out on human rights in China in the wake of

French President Jacques Chirac's trip to Beijing.

France and other European countries last month failed to support a US bid

to pass a resolution at the United Nations Human Rights Commission in Geneva

that would have been critical of Beijing's human rights record.

During his trip, Chirac signed lucrative aviation contracts awarded to the

French-based European consortium Airbus in what was seen here as a reward from

Beijing for the stance in Geneva.

"We think that democratic countries have an obligation to stand up for

human rights in China," State Department spokesman Nicholas Burns said.

"We would hope that we would be joined in that by European countries who

are also democratic. They ought to have an interest in human rights in China

too," Burns said.

French Foreign Minister Herve de Charette also gave his counterpart Qian

Qichen a list of 17 Chinese and Tibetan dissidents that Paris said should be

released.