China rejects EU support for 'universal' human rights, saying 'satisfaction of people' is most important measure


Chinese officials have told their European counterparts that human rights should be measured by the people's well-being and rejected the EU's support for the "universal" values enshrined in the United Nations Charter.


The statements issued by both sides after a meeting between the EU's foreign affairs chief and Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi underlined their disagreements on human rights by recording their discussions on the topic in markedly different ways.

While the Europeans focused on Mogherini's support for "universality", the Chinese statement emphasised her call for mutual respect and comments that there were "different approaches" to the issue.


The issue has long been a bone of contention between the two sides, and hours after the meeting the Chinese foreign ministry reacted angrily to the news that the European Parliament had given its top human rights award to the jailed Uygur activist Ilham Tohti, describing him as a "terrorist".

The Chinese foreign ministry statement issued after their discussion on a range of foreign policy issues said that Wang had told his counterpart that "satisfaction of the people" should be the way human rights were measured.

He continued that China would continue to focus on development and "let the people live good lives to protect and elevate their human rights".

According to the statement, Mogherini had acknowledged that there are "different approaches to safeguarding and promoting human rights" and accepted that there were "problems with the human rights situation in European countries".

It continued that she had agreed to continue cooperation and exchanges with China "on the basis of mutual respect", adding: "The EU does not intend to act as the 'teacher' of other countries on human rights issues."

But the EU's account of the meeting did not refer to Wang's comments and said Mogherini had "underlined to the Chinese leadership that the EU will continue to stand up for the universality, interdependence and indivisibility of human rights based on the UN Charter and standards".

A later statement added that the EU foreign affairs chief had acknowledged China's achievements on economic and social rights, but wanted to emphasise the concerns about human rights.

It continued that the pair had also discussed Hong Kong, where Mogherini had called for a dialogue to end the crisis and stressed that the use of force must be avoided.


The EU and China have often clashed on human rights, at times interrupting official exchanges owing to their disagreements and cancelling their annual human rights dialogue in 2016.

On the same day that the pair met in Beijing, the European Parliament awarded its 2019 Sakharov Human Rights Prize to Tohti, who is serving a life sentence.

The statement announcing the award called for his immediate release and said "for over two decades, he has worked tirelessly to foster dialogue and understanding between Uygurs and other Chinese people".

During a press conference on Friday, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Hua Chunying described Tohti as a "terrorist" and said the parliament had "given a prize to a criminal".

"I'm don't know how much meaning, value or influence (the prize) has," said Hua. "I only know Tohti is a criminal that has been sentenced by a Chinese court."

Neither the Chinese nor the EU have said whether Tohti's case or the situation in Xinjiang - where Beijing is accused of detaining a million mainly Uygur Muslims in re-education camps - had been discussed.

However, the statements did indicate that the situation in Syria, Venezuela and the Korean peninsula had been on the agenda.

Copyright (c) 2019. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/dipl...ce=LINEtodayID



Sorry.. we dont do that (human rights) here