Human-rights talk with Australia `fruitful'
( 2003-07-29 07:02) (China Daily)
The seventh annual Sino-Australian human-rights dialogue was held Monday in
Beijing.
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Assistant Foreign Minister Shen Guofang (R) and Deputy
Secretary of the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade Geoff
Raby pose before a press conference yesterday in Beijing.
[newsphoto.com.cn] | "The dialogue was
positive, constructive and fruitful,'' said Assistant Foreign Minister Shen
Guofang, who led the Chinese delegation.
Geoff Raby, head of the
Australian delegation and deputy secretary of Australia's Department of Foreign
Affairs and Trade, said that the annual dialogue has reached a mature
stage.
The two sides held "friendly and in-depth'' discussions on a
series of issues of common interest, including women's and children's rights,
the rights of ethnic minorities, judicial administration, civil and political
rights as well as economic, social and cultural rights and co-operation with
United Nations human-rights organizations, Shen told a joint press conference
held after the dialogue.
The two sides approved the Human-Rights Joint
Technical Co-operation Programme for 2003-04 and pledged to continue
human-rights technical co-operation on the basis of equality and mutual
respect.
The Australian delegation will visit Lhasa, capital of Southwest
China's Tibet Autonomous Region, later this week to see the human-rights
situation there.
The dialogue mechanism was established in 1997 to
strengthen mutual understanding, discuss human-rights issues and identify
practical means of co-operation.
Australia was the first country to
establish a human-rights dialogue system with China.
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