Mainland firm against UN report
CHINA stood firm yesterday on its intention not to submit a report to the United Nations after 1997 on the human rights situation in Hong Kong.
The political department head of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, Xu Ze, maintained China's position in the face of a demand from the international body.
He said under provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, only signatory states which were also sovereign powers were obliged to submit reports.
'But it cannot be applied to Hong Kong. The future Special Administrative Region established after 1997 is a district without sovereignty,' he said. 'China has not signed the covenant and is not obliged to hand in a human rights report.' Mr Xu declined to say whether Beijing would let Hong Kong submit its own report if the UN viewed the territory as a 'place'.
The UN said on Friday that the obligation for reports devolved to the territory, which would continue to be obliged to produce a report after 1997, regardless of sovereignty.
The Chinese official said no report did not mean no human rights.
'Human rights reports and human rights are two different things.' His view was echoed by Preliminary Working Committee member Rita Fan Hsu Lai-tai: 'Don't believe human rights in Hong Kong will improve just because you hand in a report. It achieves nothing to say a few empty words.' The Basic Law protected human rights, she said, and the international community would be watching.