The Age (Australia): 'Softly, softly' on Chinese Rights Raises Hackles

Canberra

June 29, 2005

The Federal Government has come under fire for failing to question Chinese officials about claims that Chinese agents have persecuted political dissidents in Australia.

At an annual and closed "human rights dialogue" on Monday, Australian officials did not raise allegations that the Chinese Government had persecuted Chinese-Australian pro-democracy activists and members of the [group] Falun Gong. Geoff Raby, the Foreign Affairs Department official who led the talks, said it was "not the forum" for tackling the allegations.

The failure to raise the claims have fuelled accusations that Australia is taking a "softly softly" approach on human rights to keep good relations with China. Chen Yonglin, the former diplomat-turned-asylum seeker who claims 1000 Chinese spies are being used to intimidate dissidents in the Chinese-Australian community, said the human rights dialogue was a public relations exercise. "In my view, the human rights dialogue is merely a show," he told The Age.

Also yesterday, reports emerged that Australia had refused to join "secret" US-led talks to discuss China's expanding role in the world, for fear of offending China.

A Falun Gong spokeswoman, Kay Rubacek, said members in Australia had experienced a "pattern of intimidation and harassment" by Chinese agents, which included slashed car tires.

A spokesman for the Foundation for a Democratic China, Chin Jin, said his phones had been tapped and his computer hacked. "Other Chinese nationals are harassed for their political views too," he said. "I have no confidence that the dialogue will achieve anything."

The Australia-China human rights dialogue was set up in 1997 as an alternative to Australia's co-sponsoring a resolution at the United Nations Human Rights Commission calling for human rights improvements in China.