Beijing’s abrupt cancelation of the latest session of the UK-China human rights dialogue that had been scheduled for Monday offers an uncomfortable insight into Britain’s relations with the 21st century’s rising superpower. Whether the issue is personal freedom, climate change or nuclear proliferation, the government of British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is struggling with a new China syndrome that can be summed up as: “We” don’t like their attitude but “they” couldn’t give two figs.
A spokesman for the UK’s Foreign Office said the human rights meeting, of which there are two a year under a scheme dating back to the Hong Kong handover in 1997, had been postponed rather than canceled. However, official irritation at the apparent snub is palpable. China’s decision was described as “extremely unfortunate,” diplomat-speak for bloody rude.
Beijing gave no reason for its move. While British officials indicated it may have been for “technical reasons,” a more plausible explanation is that Beijing rulers decided to punish Britain for its outspoken criticism of last month’s execution of Akmal Shaikh, a British citizen, for alleged drug offenses.
China’s refusal to entertain numerous clemency pleas from Shaikh’s family and the government was a political as much as a judicial decision. Brown declared himself “appalled.” Another minister said he was sickened. China now seems to be exacting cold revenge for these hot words.
Shaikh’s execution, and the suspension of the human rights dialogue, are a direct kick in the teeth for Britain’s policy of “comprehensive” engagement with China on human rights.
Worse still, from London’s point of view, other recent actions such as the sentencing of Charter 08 author Liu Xiaobo (劉曉波) and reports of intensifying arrests, harassment and torture of indigenous Tibetans suggest an ever more confident Beijing is waxing indifferent to Britain’s strategic aim of “increasing understanding of human rights issues on both sides.”
Human rights aside, Sino-British tensions are also being fed by issues such as Beijing’s reluctance to support new sanctions on Iran’s nuclear program and by the public spat in Copenhagen last month when Brown and other ministers publicly blamed China for blocking Britain’s climate change agenda. However, according to China expert Jonathan Fenby, Britain is on a losing wicket in its battles with Beijing.
“China has asserted its determination to protect its own sovereignty whatever the issue, and is intent on doing things its way,” Fenby wrote last month. “Given its economic progress ... the leadership and the population feel pretty good about themselves. They are in no mood to take lessons, moral or otherwise, from the West.”
Incumbent Ecuadoran President Daniel Noboa on Sunday claimed a runaway victory in the nation’s presidential election, after voters endorsed the young leader’s “iron fist” approach to rampant cartel violence. With more than 90 percent of the votes counted, the National Election Council said Noboa had an unassailable 12-point lead over his leftist rival Luisa Gonzalez. Official results showed Noboa with 56 percent of the vote, against Gonzalez’s 44 percent — a far bigger winning margin than expected after a virtual tie in the first round. Speaking to jubilant supporters in his hometown of Olon, the 37-year-old president claimed a “historic victory.” “A huge hug
Two Belgian teenagers on Tuesday were charged with wildlife piracy after they were found with thousands of ants packed in test tubes in what Kenyan authorities said was part of a trend in trafficking smaller and lesser-known species. Lornoy David and Seppe Lodewijckx, two 19-year-olds who were arrested on April 5 with 5,000 ants at a guest house, appeared distraught during their appearance before a magistrate in Nairobi and were comforted in the courtroom by relatives. They told the magistrate that they were collecting the ants for fun and did not know that it was illegal. In a separate criminal case, Kenyan Dennis
A judge in Bangladesh issued an arrest warrant for the British member of parliament and former British economic secretary to the treasury Tulip Siddiq, who is a niece of former Bangladeshi prime minister Sheikh Hasina, who was ousted in August last year in a mass uprising that ended her 15-year rule. The Bangladeshi Anti-Corruption Commission has been investigating allegations against Siddiq that she and her family members, including Hasina, illegally received land in a state-owned township project near Dhaka, the capital. Senior Special Judge of Dhaka Metropolitan Zakir Hossain passed the order on Sunday, after considering charges in three separate cases filed
APPORTIONING BLAME: The US president said that there were ‘millions of people dead because of three people’ — Vladimir Putin, Joe Biden and Volodymyr Zelenskiy US President Donald Trump on Monday resumed his attempts to blame Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy for Russia’s invasion, falsely accusing him of responsibility for “millions” of deaths. Trump — who had a blazing public row in the Oval Office with Zelenskiy six weeks ago — said the Ukranian shared the blame with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who ordered the February 2022 invasion, and then-US president Joe Biden. Trump told reporters that there were “millions of people dead because of three people.” “Let’s say Putin No. 1, but let’s say Biden, who had no idea what the hell he was doing, No. 2, and
RSS