BEIJING, July 21 – British Prime Minister Tony Blair failed to tackle human rights in talks with China’s leaders Monday, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman said.
“The human rights question was not touched upon in meetings between Tony Blair and Chinese leaders as far as I know,” foreign ministry spokesman Kong Quan said at a briefing.
He said the Tibet issue was also not raised in talks although President Hu Jintao’s experiences as party secretary in the territory China has occupied since 1949 were a topic discussed at a dinner party.
“Before I left the dinner between Mr Blair and Hu Jintao, Mr Hu was explaining to Blair what he experienced in his years in Tibet,” said Kong.
“The prime minister was very attentive to it. I believe for him to be so attentive to Hu Jintao’s introductions, I would think it would have deepened Mr Blair’s understanding of the situation in Tibet.”
He said Hu often discussed his time in Tibet with foreign guests.
“Those experiences were unforgettable for him,” Kong added.
As leader of Chinese-administered Tibet from late 1988 to 1992, Hu imposed martial law and brutally crushed pro-independence demonstrations.
International human rights groups and Tibetan activists had urged Blair Friday to put rights issues in the spotlight during his trip to China.
The London-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) called on Blair to pressure China to improve human rights and civil liberties, which it said have deteriorated.
HRW noted sharp increases in rights violations in China, including Internet censorship and arrests, renewed crack-downs on Tibetans and intolerance of peaceful labor protests.
China has been accused of trying to wipe out Tibet’s Buddhist-based culture through political and religious repression and a flood of ethnic Chinese immigration.
Last week, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and the Pacific Randy Schriver said China had failed to live up to its human rights pledges.
