In a major initiative to respond to western concerns over human rights, China yesterday invited the United Nations Commissioner for Human Rights, Mrs Mary Robinson, to visit the country for talks. A UN spokeswoman said Mrs Robinson had told China's ambassador to the UN on January 12th that she was ready to start a constructive dialogue with China on human rights issues. The invitation was first announced by officials travelling with the British Foreign Secretary, Mr Robin Cook, who met Chinese leaders in Beijing. Yesterday he said the Chinese Foreign Minister had told him China would welcome a visit from Mrs Robinson.
Mr Cook said: "It is a recognition of the leading position of Britain and the European Union on human rights that it was announced during my visit."
The initiative is also a recognition that the annual meeting of the UN Human Rights Commission is fast approaching, at which an attempt has been made to censure China every year since the Tiananmen Square crackdown in 1989.
Traditionally the holder of the EU presidency has tabled a motion criticising China's record which the other EU members sign. However, last year France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Greece opted out, leaving Denmark to table an individual resolution.
China then suspended normal relations with Denmark until last November, a development the UK is anxious to avoid in the wake of the acrimonious handover of Hong Kong last year.
The US Secretary of State, Ms Madeleine Albright, welcomed the invitation, saying it "is a good indicator that they are beginning to understand the importance of human rights to the international community".
Mrs Robinson's visit "was intended to strengthen co-operation with the United Nations in the field of human rights", the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, Mr Shen Guofang, told reporters yesterday. "China is in favour of holding dialogue on human rights issues on the basis of mutual respect and equality. This dialogue will help dispel differences on the subject of human rights."
China and the EU resumed a dialogue on human rights last November and Beijing may sign the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights this year.
Yesterday a Chinese dissident, Mr Lin Xinshu, made public a letter to President Jiang Zemin urging a Lunar New Year amnesty for all imprisoned activists.
Before leaving for Hong Kong, Mr Cook said China is beginning to recognise that the international community's interest in human rights is not going to go away. He told reporters he had urged President Jiang to free leading dissidents, including the former student leader, Mr Wang Dan, jailed for 11 years for subversion in 1996. Two months ago China released its most famous dissident, Mr Wei Jingsheng, and sent him into exile in the US.