China hopes to see comprehensive, objective and fair assessment
of its development and human rights conditions, the Foreign
Ministry said yesterday.
Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu made the remarks at a regular
press conference commenting on a delegation of Reporters Without
Borders visiting China and meeting Chinese officials, and
investigating the possibility of the organization setting up an
office in Beijing.
Jiang said she has learned about the visit but did not have much
information about it.
"We have always believed that international dialogue on human
rights should be held on the basis of equality and mutual respect,"
Jiang said. "We hope they can have a comprehensive, objective and
fair assessment of China's development and human rights
conditions."
"This will help improve the understanding of China and be
conducive to bilateral exchanges and dialogue," she said.
China and Japan began their seventh round of strategic dialogue
in Beijing yesterday. Jiang described this dialogue as an important
channel to carry out the consensus of top leaders of the two
countries.
Furthermore, China maintains an open attitude toward a new round
of China-Japan consultation over the East China Sea issue, although
no date has been fixed, she added.
China and Japan do have common ground on the issue, with both
agreeing to joint development of the sea and the proper resolution
of the issue through dialogue and consultation, she said.
In Cebu of the Philippines in early January, Premier Wen Jiabao and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo
Abe expressed their will to speed up the consultation process about
the East China Sea issue.
Meanwhile, the Japanese Supreme Court has started hearings on
the ownership of Guanghualiao (known as Kokaryo in Japan), a once
five-story dormitory that Kyoto University rented out to Chinese
students during World War II.
Taiwan's "mission" in Japan purchased the estate in May 1950,
but the Chinese Embassy to Japan and Consulate General in Kyoto
have cared for the building and contributed special funds for its
maintenance.
Plaintiffs representing Taiwan's authorities first brought the
province's claim on the building to court in 1967. It was overruled
in 1977 at the Kyoto Local Court, but in its ruling and review in
1982 and 1987, the Osaka High Court overturned the first
ruling.
"The Guanghualiao case is not merely a property case, but a
political case concerning China's legitimate rights," Jiang
said.
Commenting on a Japanese filmmaker's plan to shoot a documentary
about the Nanjing Massacre in December 1937, when Japanese troops
killed 300,000 Chinese, Jiang expressed hope that Japan would adopt
a measured and reasonable stance to historical issues so that they
may win true trust from its Asian neighbors and the international
community.
The film reportedly has the working title The Truth About
Nanking. The documentary aims to deny Japanese soldiers
massacred Chinese civilians and prisoners of war in Nanjing.
Jiang said the Nanjing Massacre bore irrefutable evidence, and
the international community had arrived at a final conclusion on
the matter long ago.
Turning to the six-party talks over the Korean Peninsula
nuclear issue, Jiang said China is consulting with relevant parties
on resuming the negotiations soon.
On the speculation of the financial sanction talks between the
US and North Korea being held in Beijing on January 29, Jiang said
China has no idea of such arrangements.
Jiang said all parties concerned, namely China, the US, Japan,
Russia, North and South Korea, have undergone a flurry of contacts
and consultations to propose some preliminary plans and
suggestions.
"We think all these are of positive meaning and lay a foundation
for an early resumption of the negotiations," she said.
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In another development, Jiang announced China has donated 130
million yuan (US$16.7 million) to Lebanon to aid the country in its
reconstruction efforts.
She said China would announce its donation at an international
conference for Lebanese aid held in Paris yesterday.
She said China views the conference as an extremely important
event and that China's envoy to the Middle East issue, Sun Bigan,
would attend the conference.
According to Jiang, China will increase the number of its
peacekeepers in Lebanon to 335 from the current 225 by
mid-February. By then China's peacekeepers in Lebanon will comprise
a engineering battalion of 275 members and a medical team of 60
members.
Jiang announced that Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates
will pay an official visit to China from January 30 to February 3
at the invitation of Premier Wen.
"We believe the visit will further enrich the bilateral
comprehensive strategic partnership and deepen our friendly
cooperation in various fields," she said.
Socrates will meet with Wen, top Chinese legislator Wu Bangguo and Vice President Zeng Qinghong during his stay in Beijing, and
will also visit Shanghai and Macao Special Administrative Region,
according to the spokeswoman.
"China thinks highly of this visit as this will be his first
visit to China since taking office as prime minister," Jiang
noted.
As Portugal will assume the rotating presidency of the EU in the
second half of 2007, China prepare to work with Portugal in ramping
up political dialogue and cooperation in major international
affairs, she said.
(Xinhua News Agency January 26, 2007)
