Human rights groups slam 'indulgent' treatment of China

Human rights groups are expressing their concern at the official visit of China's Vice President to Ireland.

Human rights groups are expressing their concern at the official visit of China's Vice President to Ireland.

Mr Xi Jin Ping is in his second day of a visit to Ireland, which today focuses on agriculture and tourism.

Tomorrow will see the Vice President sign a trade agreement at an Enterprise Ireland forum.

Amnesty International has urged the Government to bring up China's poor human rights record with Mr Jin-Ping, while the Anti-War movement has said it is disappointed by the Coalition's "indulgent" treatment of China.

The Irish Anti-war Movement said that Mr Xi Jinping is "a representative of a dictatorship that denies basic human rights to almost all of its citizens".

The group pointed out that the Chinese Government had "brutally suppressed" pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Square in 1989 and claimed it "continually suppresses people with unorthodox religious beliefs and dissidents who speak out against the human rights record of the government", such as the prominent artist Ai Weiwei.

Jim Roche, PRO of the IAWM said: "While it is understandable that Irish people should welcome trade links with big economies like China, particularly in these difficult recessionary times, this must not be at any price. We must uphold Ireland’s long tradition of support for basic human rights around the world – including in China.

"The Chinese government has an appalling record in this regard with the suppression of the Tiananmen Square pro democracy protesters in 1989, its continual harassment of the Falon Gong and dissidents and its suppression of the rights of the people of Tibet.

"It does seem our Government here is willing to do business with very unsavory regimes without a hint of criticism. We see the same behavior with some of the despotic regimes of the Middle East. Yet when the people of Palestine voted in 2006 for a new government, in one of the fairest elections ever held in the region, the Irish Government, following the lead from its masters in the Pentagon, refused, and still refuses, to recognize the democratic choice of the people.

"This is incredible behavior for a supposedly neutral state with expressed concerns for human rights and its indulgence of someone like Xi Jinping who represents a brutal dictatorship demonstrates awful inconsistencies by the Government.

"The Irish Government seems willing to turn a blind eye to suppression of human rights. This must stop. They should use the visit by Xi Jinping to put pressure on him to allow the Chinese people to choose their government and to express their beliefs openly."

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