China 'overreacting' to Dalai Lama EU visit, say MEPs

Beijing - MEPs visiting China have reacted with dismay to news that Beijing has cancelled next week's EU-China summit in Lyon.

Members of parliament's delegation in China for an inter-parliamentary meeting branded the decision, which comes in the wake of the continuing row over the Dalai Lama's visit to parliament in December, as "crazy".

The summit, due to take place on Monday, was cancelled by the Chinese because of French president Nicolas Sarkozy's planned meeting with the Dalai Lama in Poland on 6 December.

Delegation member Stefan Kuc, a Polish UEN deputy, said, "This is a total overreaction and quite crazy in my view. I really cannot understand it."

His comments were echoed by Spanish Socialist member Maria Badia i Cutchet, who said, "Sarkozy is perfectly entitled to see the Dalai Lama and parliament is perfectly entitled to invite him to address the plenary."

Corien Wortmann-Kool, a Dutch EPP-ED member, commented, "I am pleased Sarkozy has not excluded the Dalai Lama from his schedule and this is a total overreaction by the Chinese.

"If China wants to be treated as an equal partner on the world stage it should be behaving in a more mature way," said the deputy, who is drafting a report on EU-China trade relations.

Belgian ALDE deputy Dirk Sterckx, who is leading the 21-strong delegation, said he was "disappointed" by the decision.

"It is unfortunate because it comes at a time when there are so many important issues to discuss with China. But I have to say I am not entirely surprised because I know from our meetings here in China this week that the Chinese are very, very touchy on the subject of the Dalai Lama."

Austrian independent MEP Hans-Peter Martin said, "This decision shows that the Chinese are reinforcing their attitudes. They were more open before the Olympics but now they are taking a stronger viewpoint on issues they consider relevant to theirs."

A senior Chinese official defended their position over the Dalai Lama and reiterated China's warning that parliament can expect a "serious response" from China if his visit to parliament goes ahead.

Communist party minister Zhang Zhijun said that parliament has become "one of China's least friends" because of a series of resolutions it has made on the Tibet issue.

He said, "Our door is always open to the Dalai Lama so long as he abandons his position on independence. This is a vital issue for us and there is absolutely no room for compromise."

Meanwhile, Hans-Peter Martin has stressed that his threat to leave the delegation in China this week was not over Tibet but about human rights issues generally.

He says he considered quitting the visit to Beijing and Shanghai because he feared the delegation would not raise the matter of human rights.

But he says he decided to stay on until as planned after the group agreed to his request to question Chinese officials on a number of related issues, including the death sentence imposed on a Chinese national accused of spying for Taiwan.

The parliamentary delegation made an 11th hour plea for clemency for Wo Weihan, a 59-year-old doctor, due to be put to death less than 48 hours after he was convicted in a closed door trial of spying for diplomatic and political rival Taiwan.

He was accused of "discussing the health status of senior Chinese leaders", which is considered to be top secret, and passing classified information to a Taiwanese organisation, claims he denies.

His was one of about 15 human rights cases handed to Chinese officials by Martin.

The case has attracted international interest and Martin personally appealed to Zhang Zhijun, a senior Communist Party member, during a meeting in Beijing.

Martin said, "The case is a travesty of justice. This man may have committed a crime but this punishment is in totally unjustified. It would be much easier for the EU to deal with China if cases like this did not occur."

Dirk Sterckx said, "I have pointed out to the Chinese officials and ministers that the European parliament opposes the death penalty and that applies to everywhere, not just China."

Responding to Martin's appeal, Zhijun, who has special responsibility for international relations, said he would pass the file containing Weihan's case to the relevant authorities.

He said, "We still have the death penalty in this country and people have to respect our right to that although the number of people being given a death sentence is gradually coming down."

Weihan's daughter Ran Chen, aged 31, fought back tears when she told this website that she had not seen her father since he was arrested four years ago.

She had been told to visit him earlier this week after having been refused visitation rights for the last four years.

"This sudden move suggests that the Supreme People's Court has approved the death sentence and that the Beijing Municipal Higher People's Court is preparing to execute my father," said Chen, who has travelled from her home in California to make a last-minute plea for a stay of execution.

She said, "On Thursday I expect to see my father for the first time in four years. I also expect it to be the last time I will ever see my father."

"I am very, very grateful to Hans-Peter Martin and those members of the delegation who have tried to raise awareness of this case during this week's delegation visit.  A great deal has also been done at EU level. I doubt, however, that it will have much success."

She said the case had been "politicised" because of the ongoing dispute between China and Taiwan.

"I have no direct evidence but I strongly, strongly suspect he has been sentenced to death for political reasons."

China keeps secret the number of prisoners it executes but international human rights observers have no doubt it judicially kills more than any other country with estimates of executions somewhere between 1000 and 12,000 a year in recent times.

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