SCMP: Respect human rights pacts, urges Chretien Abuses remain a sore point in relations, says Prime Minister

Friday, February 16, 2001

Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien returned to the theme of human rights in a speech in Shanghai yesterday, calling on China to ratify two UN covenants and ensure they were honoured.

"China has accepted the relevance of applicability of these rights in signing the covenants. It is now time to ensure that they are recognized in reality, not just on paper," he told about 200 students and staff at the East China University of Politics and Law, one of the mainland's oldest institutes of higher education.

China has agreed to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights but must still ratify them.

National People's Congress Chairman Li Peng has said Beijing could ratify the pact on basic economic rights at the annual session of the NPC next month, but there was no word on the political rights accord, which covers such sensitive areas as arbitrary arrest and torture.

Mr Chretien, who has been under fire at home for playing down human rights in his dealings with China in pursuit of trade opportunities, brought up human rights, Tibet and the crackdown on the Falun Gong [group] during his meetings with President Jiang Zemin and Premier Zhu Rongji in Beijing.

Mr Chretien told his audience at the Shanghai institute, known as St John's University before the communist revolution, that reports of human rights abuses in China were a sore spot in relations between the two countries.

"True friends are never shy about exchanging views on important issues," he said. "And so, as a friend, I must tell you that Canadians are concerned when they hear reports from China of interference in the right of free expression, or that people are badly treated for observing their spiritual beliefs. These reports transgress our most deeply held convictions."

He noted that about 88 years ago the father of modern China, Dr Sun Yat-sen, spoke at the same spot and called on students to help build a modern society.

Mr Chretien called for more legal reform, saying that without it, economic reform would be limited. And in a nod to Shanghai's role as the mainland's financial centre, he warned that the rule of law would be essential in attracting foreign investment.

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