• Daily Telegraph, London, on lifting embargoes against China Daily Telegraph, London, on lifting embargoes against China The European Union has been both unprincipled and inept over its arms embargo on China. The move to lift it has been led
• Daily Telegraph, London, on lifting embargoes against China
Daily Telegraph, London, on lifting embargoes against China
The European Union has been both unprincipled and inept over its arms embargo on China. The move to lift it has been led by Jacques Chirac, who thinks it “groundless and illogical.” Germany, the biggest European exporter to China, supports its removal. And Jack Straw has said that to lump China in with Burma and Zimbabwe, both of which are under similar sanctions, is “not appropriate”.
Replying to such specious self-justification, it is worth recalling that the embargo was introduced after the Tiananmen Square massacre of 1989. Since then, Beijing has refused to revise its verdict that the peaceful, prodemocracy demonstrations amounted to a “counter-revolutionary rebellion”. Zhao Ziyang, the Communist Party chief who pleaded with the students to call off their protest before it was too late, remained under house arrest until his death in January. China has still to ratify the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. And reports by human rights monitors suggest that, while there has been progress in recent years, it is not enough to warrant lifting the embargo. Mr Straw’s references to Burma and Zimbabwe merely reflect the Foreign Office’s propensity to adjust standards according to whether the country is small and weak or big and powerful.
Khaleej Times, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on human rights abuses
This is one issue which would see the so-called developed and developing world come together in a single, all-inclusive category. When it comes to respect for human rights, few states — from all-powerful superpowers to impoverished states of Africa to practising democracies of Asia — pass the crucial test with flying colours.
In fact, human rights groups point out, half of the member states peopling the UN Human Rights Commission are guilty of the worst kind of rights abuses and violations. The UN Human Rights Commission, which met in Geneva last week as part of its annual exercise to scrutinize respect for fundamental rights, faces the big question: who will and how to bell the cat.
While human rights groups like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch are clamouring for action against a number of rights violators – from Russia, Nepal, Sudan and, of course, US, to North Korea and China etc., — there is no mechanism or, to put it more plainly, political muscle enabling the UN to act or at least pull up those responsible.…
Provided by the Associated Press
