August 25, 2001

The Chinese Premier, Mr Zhu Rongji, is prepared to answer any questions on human rights put to him during his official visit to Ireland next month.

"If the Irish side want to talk on any question we will be happy to respond," a Chinese Foreign Ministry official said yesterday.

On Thursday the Irish section of Amnesty International said it would be asking the Government to raise the issue of human rights abuses with Premier Zhu during his visit from September 2nd to 5th. An Amnesty spokesman, Mr Brian Dooley, said the group had no objections to the visit per se and saw it as an opportunity to raise concerns with the Premier.

"It's crucial that Irish politicians and business leaders use the occasion to bring up human rights abuses," he said. 'We will make representations to the Government to raise the issue, and we are confident they will do so."

Mr Dooley said there were no plans as yet for major protests during the visit, but he expected that groups, including the Falun Gong, would voice their objections.

Mr Zhang Tuo, deputy director-general of the Chinese Foreign Ministry Department of Western European Affairs, told The Irish Times yesterday that if the Government wanted to talk about human rights "China will take an open attitude and talk about it".

He added, however, that discussions might concentrate on "more important questions and views".

Mr Zhu's arrival on September 2nd will begin the first official visit by a Chinese premier to Ireland. The Chinese VicePremier, Mr Li Lanqing, was in Dublin last year.

Mr Zhang said Premier Zhu would use his visit to exchange views on how to expand co-operation between the two countries in all areas.

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Premier Zhu will travel from Ireland to Brussels to attend the 4th Sino-European summit. He will also be celebrating 30 years of diplomatic relations between Belgium and China.

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http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2001/0825/hom12.htm