UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon is visiting China and, much to the chagrin of human rights organizations, has failed to mention Nobel laureate Liu Xiaobo or other human rights issues. From the Telegraph:
Ban Ki-moon avoided any mention of Mr Liu, who is serving an 11-year jail sentence for writing a pro-democracy petition, Charter 08, choosing instead to call on China to increase its contributions to reducing climate change and reducing conflict in Africa.
Human Right Watch, the New-York based group, described Mr Ban’s omission as “shocking” and contrasted his silence on Liu Xiaobo with his calls on the Burmese Junta to release Aung San Suu Kyi, another Nobel Peace Prize winner who is in jail for her pro-democracy activities.
“Ban’s failure to speak out publicly while in China about Liu Xiaobo or any other domestic human rights issues just weeks after the Nobel Committee and numerous heads of state did precisely that betrays his pledges to defend human rights worldwide,” said Sophie Richardson, Asia advocacy director at Human Rights Watch.
Xinhua focused on the positive in reporting Ban’s visit. See also, “Liu who? UN’s Ban silent on rights in talks with China’s Hu” from the Reuters blog.
In another tale of irony, the U.N.’s Chinese Under-Secretary General for Economic and Social Affairs, Sha Zukang, has presented an award for promoting “harmony and peace” to former Defense Minister Chi Haotian. The official Chinese media reports of the award fail to mention that Chi was also the general in charge of the violent crackdown on protesters in Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989.
