ENGLAND: CHINA'S DISSIDENT WEI JINGSHENG IN LONDON TO RALLY SUPPORT AGAINST HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES IN CHINA

Record ID: 215289

  • Title: ENGLAND: CHINA'S DISSIDENT WEI JINGSHENG IN LONDON TO RALLY SUPPORT AGAINST HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES IN CHINA
  • Date: 8th January 1998
  • Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (JANUARY 9, 1997) (RTV - ACCESS ALL) 1. SLV WEI JINGSHENG AND AGENT WALKING TOWARDS THE THATCHER FOUNDATION 0.04 2. MCU OF WEI SMOKING A CIGARETTE WALKING ALONG STREET 0.11 3. MCU POLICEMAN ON DUTY AT DOOR OF THATCHER FOUNDATION PULL OUT SLV WEI WAITING TO BE INVITED IN 0.24 4. SV WEI EN
  • Embargoed: 23rd January 1998 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM
  • City:
  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Reuters ID: LVAEVJ3TUOUVEJLWAZ2ZSYA8OLAS
  • Story Text: China's best-known dissident Wei Jingsheng - released in November after 18 years in prison - has been visiting Britain to rally support against alleged human rights abuses in China.

    Forty-seven-year-old Wei Jingsheng has not exactly been welcomed with open arms by the new British Labour government.Foreign Secretary Robin Cook, who's due to visit China later this month, was "too busy" to see him.

    Instead Wei will have brief talks with a minister of state at the foreign office next week.

    So it was left to the old Conservative government to provide a hearing for the man who has been a thorn in the side of the strict communist regime in China for many years.

    First stop was the offices of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, now Lady Thatcher, for a one-hour meeting at the Thatcher Foundation.Wei is also due to have talks with former Hong Kong governor Chris Patten in London on Saturday (January 10).

    Human Rights group Amnesty International claim more people are executed in China each year than in the rest of the world.They also maintain that thousands of political prisoners are detained without trial and tortured in prison.

    Wei said western democracies could do more to put pressure on the Chinese authorities to end the practice and urged them to put human rights ahead of profits in business.

    Earlier at a news conference he warned that Western dialogue with the Beijing government could actually encourage human rights violations there.

    He said it hurts him to see western governments moving closer to China in order to increase trade while tortures and executions continue to be a way of life.

    Wei was released from a Chinese jail on medical parole and forced into exile in November.His release came a little over two weeks after United States President Bill Clinton had raised the case of Wei and other dissidents with Chinese President Jiang Zemin during Zemin's visit to Washington.

    Since he was freed, Wei has faced a number of emotional reunions with members of his family, including one in London his sister and her baby son who had flown in from Germany.

    Wei will be in Paris next week seeking support from the French government for his continuing campaign against human rights abuses in China.


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