Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-09-08-Speech-4-143"
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"en.20050908.19.4-143"2
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".
Mr President, China is once again the subject of debate in this House, and I fear that this will not be the last time that we deal with this issue.
The growing relations between the European Union and China offer a great opportunity for both parties, and I would go as far as to say even for the world in general.
Nevertheless, these relations cannot be based solely on improving the commercial relations of each party. If what the European Union wants is policy on China to be credible, it must demand much more clearly that it radically improve its policy on human rights.
The European Union-China dialogue on human rights is a good instrument for doing this, but I fear that it is clearly being underused. There are various problems that China is not dealing with responsibly, given its role in the world, which is becoming increasingly interdependent: trade union freedom, freedom of expression, press freedom and also religious freedom.
I am one of those who advocate that governmental and public institutions should be secular in nature and that it is essential to ensure the separation of political and religious powers, but I also believe that true secularism must guarantee freedom of religious practice in the private sphere. I am therefore concerned about the constant complaints from various groups concerning the difficulties they face practising their religion in China.
Just as I oppose a State providing special finance and support for a particular religion rather than others — a few days ago, for example, I condemned the fact that the Commission had dedicated so much money to the World Youth Days promoted by the Catholic Church — I do not believe it is acceptable for institutions to violate the individual right to religious freedom. As such, this is a human rights issue that we must complain about and denounce.
In summary, in this Resolution we are calling on the Chinese authorities to put an immediate end to all religious repression, to ensure respect for international standards of human rights and to guarantee democracy, freedom of expression, association and the press, and also, as the Resolution states, religious freedom in all territory controlled by the Chinese authorities."@en1
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