Europe in Denial Over China Rights Abuse

The Chinese government must have been pleased that the European Union, in its public statements following last week's international summit, opted for airy ambiguity with regard to human rights - while ignoring any specific reference to Beijing's ongoing assault on the rule-of-law and its intolerance for free expression. The lengthy joint press communique of the 14th EU-China meeting only made general reference to human rights issues. That was, at least, an improvement over last year's joint communique. It did not mention human rights at all. But the communiqué was an assertion of empty rhetoric promising "cooperation on human rights based on equality and mutual respect". It, in fact, mirrored the problems in the annual EU-China bilateral human rights dialogue: no specific benchmarks or references to actual rights abuses and their victims.