US embassy cable - 04BRUSSELS3159

C O N F I D E N T I A L BRUSSELS 003159 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT. FOR DRL SUSAN O'SULLIVAN 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/25/2014 
TAGS: PHUM, PREL, PARM, KDEM, KJUS, CH, EUN, USEU BRUSSELS 
SUBJECT: EU/CHINA: READOUT OF JUNE 30 HUMAN RIGHTS SEMINAR 
ON ICCPR 
 
REF: A. BEIJING 11573 
 
     B. BERLIN 2422 
     C. BEIJING 10293 
     D. O'HARA/FENNERTY ET. AL. E-MAIL 03/02/04 
 
Classified By: USEU Poloff Van Reidhead for reasons 1.4 (b, d) 
 
1. (C) SUMMARY: On June 29-30 the EU and China held a joint 
seminar on Chinese ratification of the International Covenant 
on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) (refs A, C).  EU 
reporting, relayed to poloff by a Policy Unit staffer, 
described the seminar as useful overall -- with a "wonderful 
atmosphere" -- despite China's emphasis on accomplishments 
and reluctance to discuss problems.  The Chinese stressed 
that ICCPR ratification would take years, but they looked 
forward to learning from EU experience.  While some EU Member 
States are linking progress on ICCPR to the debate over 
lifting the EU arms embargo on China, none have come out with 
specific conditions.  The Director of Human Rights Watch's 
Brussels office said the EU's HR dialogue with China was not 
credible, and called the joint seminars "closed door little 
schmoozing shops."  END SUMMARY. 
 
2. (C) According to Chris Holtby, a UK-detailee to HiRep 
Solana's Policy Unit, China was represented at the seminar by 
the MFA and sixteen of the other "entities" participating in 
a PRC task force charged with laying the ground for ICCPR 
ratification.  MFA DG Li Baodong delivered China's opening 
remarks, followed by VFM Zhang Yesui.  The EU was represented 
by experts from 13 Member States and the Commission. 
 
3. (C) Describing UK and EU Presidency reports of the 
seminar, Holtby said that while the EU wanted to discuss 
continuing HR deficits, the Chinese wanted to focus almost 
exclusively on past accomplishments.  As a result there was 
no real discussion of substantive issues.  The central 
Chinese message was that ICCPR ratification was a long-term 
project requiring several years of hard work to complete. 
Yet the Chinese assured the EU that Beijing had made a 
political commitment to proceed, and looked forward to EU 
assistance in doing so.  In a statement that resonated with 
the Europeans, the Chinese said they hoped to learn from the 
experience of countries like Spain and Portugal that also 
went through lengthy HR transitions.  After the seminar, 
"There was a lot of gushing (on the EU side) about the 
wonderful atmosphere," Holtby said.  The Dutch EU Presidency 
now wants to form smaller EU-China focus groups to tackle 
specific aspects of ICCPR ratification, perhaps using an 
article-by-article approach.  The UK promised to supply the 
Dutch with ideas. 
 
Arms Embargo Linkage? 
--------------------- 
 
4. (C) Asked whether ICCPR ratification would figure in the 
debate over lifting the EU arms embargo on China, Holtby (who 
represents the Policy Unit in PSC and Working Group 
discussions of China), said that "some" Member States had 
made "general" linkages between progress on ICCPR and lifting 
the embargo.  But as far as he knew, none had come forward 
with specific conditions. 
 
The View from Human Rights Watch 
-------------------------------- 
 
5. (C) Asked how the HR NGO community assesses the EU-China 
HR dialogue and subsidiary seminars, Human Rights Watch 
Brussels Director Lotte Leicht argued forcefully that they 
were not credible (septel).  She viewed as "outrageous" the 
EU's unwillingness to offend China.  The EU will not even ask 
for the release of political prisoners, let alone for 
detailed information on their welfare and whereabouts, she 
said.  Calling the EU-China meetings "closed door little 
schmoozing shops," Leicht said that HRW was no longer willing 
to participate for fear of becoming an accomplice of the EU's 
appeasement of China. (Note: Leicht had the same view of the 
EU's HR dialogue with Iran). 
 
Sammis