Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard said she raised a range of human rights concerns in talks yesterday with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶), who denied China had taken a “backward step.”
“I expressed my concerns and Australia’s concerns about the treatment of ethnic minorities, about the question of religious freedom and about recent reports of human rights activists,” Gillard told reporters after the talks. “Premier Wen ... indicated that his view was that China had not taken a backward step on human rights.”
The trip is Gillard’s first to China, Australia’s top trading partner, and comes as the Chinese Communist Party is waging its toughest crackdown on dissent in years.
Gillard is set to meet Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) today at the conclusion of her week-long trip to Northeast Asia, which also included visits to Japan and South Korea.
Before arriving in Beijing late on Monday, she had vowed to raise Australian concerns over human rights in meetings with Chinese leaders.
China’s government has drawn criticism from around the world with its severe clampdown, launched after anonymous online appeals emerged in February calling for weekly protests to emulate those that have rocked the Arab world. Rights groups say scores of activists and lawyers have been detained, including aartist Ai Weiwei (艾未未).
China has also drawn fire for detaining scores of members of an unregistered Protestant church in Beijing, and for a security crackdown on a Tibetan monastery in Sichuan Province.
When asked about the rights discussions between Gillard and Wen, Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Hong Lei (洪磊) said yesterday China respected human rights. “China’s progress in the field of human rights is witnessed by all,” he added.
Gillard said she raised the specific cases of two Australians jailed or detained in China — Stern Hu (胡士泰) and Matthew Ng (吳植輝) — but she did not elaborate on Wen’s response.
Hu was one of four Rio Tinto employees jailed last year for stealing trade secrets and taking bribes. Ng, a travel services executive, was detained late last year by police on suspicion of embezzlement.
The cases strained relations between Canberra and Beijing, and stoked fears among foreign investors about the rule of law in China.
A bilateral trade relationship worth some US$50.6 billion annually was also high on the agenda of the premiers’ meeting.
Gillard said Australia’s economic ties with China were “in good shape” and trade between the two countries was growing in “leaps and bounds.” She said Wen agreed long-standing free-trade negotiations should continue “with some pace to them.”
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