Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-11-23-Speech-2-578"
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"en.20101123.41.2-578"2
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"Madam President, tonight, we in the Socialist and Democrat Group give our full support to this European Parliament demand that Liu Xiaobo is allowed to go to Oslo, and does not earn a different prize as the first laureate or laureate’s representative in its one hundred year history to be unable to be present to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. Arrested for taking part in demonstrations, banned from teaching, sent for re-education and now imprisoned for seeking to exercise freedom of expression, the Chinese called Liu Xiaobo a criminal whilst the rest of the world awards him the accolade for peace.
I went to China personally on behalf of this House and saw that there are people ready to enter into dialogue with us on issues of labour rights and corporate social responsibility. But the fact remains that, when this Parliament’s Human Rights Subcommittee sought visas from China, no reply was ever given; and when the EU pressed for a meeting of our human rights dialogue with China, the Chinese deliberately offered a date between Christmas this year and the New Year. It now looks almost certain that there will not be a meeting under this Presidency.
This is not serious. All who wish to express solidarity tonight with Liu, his wife Liu Xia and all prisoners of conscience in China, should recognise that the rest of the world has too often put trade interests with China before our mutual obligations on human rights. This is exemplified by British Prime Minister David Cameron, who this month took a 48-strong trade delegation to Beijing but failed to include anyone to represent an interest or expertise in poverty reduction, environmental degradation or labour rights.
The truth is that five socially conscious individuals who make up the awards committee in Norway have arguably done more than this European Union, the US or the rest of the international community to put pressure on the Chinese Government to reform. Let us remember that Andrei Sakharov, Lech Wałęsa and Nelson Mandela were all Nobel laureates who once lived in repressive countries which were ultimately transformed, and tonight express our hope that Liu Xiaobo may join this list not simply in the China of today but in a China where human rights are fully respected one day in the future."@en1
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