China prevents prominent human rights lawyer Mo Shaoping from meeting German minister
Visiting German Vice-Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel stopped from holding discussions with human rights advocate Mo Shaoping by police who visit the lawyer's office
PUBLISHED : Wednesday, 23 April, 2014, 11:41am
UPDATED : Wednesday, 23 April, 2014, 11:41am
Reuters in Beijing
Human rights lawyer Mo Shaoping. Photo: AFP
Chinese police blocked a prominent human rights lawyer from meeting Germany’s vice-chancellor, the lawyer said on Wednesday, in the latest example of curbs on government critics in China.
Sigmar Gabriel was unable to hold talks with members of Chinese civil society during a visit to Beijing on Tuesday, though he declined to comment on why the planned meeting at the German embassy had not taken place.
Gabriel had told reporters travelling with him to China that he would meet critics of the Chinese government, saying he believed that European politicians had an obligation to show support for such dissidents.
But police came to the office of the human rights lawyer, Mo Shaoping, and said they had received orders “from above” that Mo was not allowed to attend, Mo told reporters.
“They must have understood that I had been invited and so came over to say that I could not go,” he said. “This is quite typical. It’s not the first time it has happened.”
The Chinese foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Gabriel is on a two-day visit to China, accompanied by a large delegation of business officials. He raised the issue of human rights and the rule of law during hour-long talks with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang.
Two years ago police blocked Mo, who defended China’s jailed Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Liu Xiaobo in his 2009 trial, from attending a Beijing dinner hosted by German leader Angela Merkel. Merkel will visit China again in July.
“It’s regretful, but this is the present situation in China,” Mo said. “I was invited, as an ordinary citizen, by a visiting foreign dignitary, and there is no legal basis for stopping me.”
However, Mo said he had been able to meet German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier earlier in the month, when he was in China.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (right) meets with visiting German Vice-Chancellor and Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy Sigmar Gabriel in Beijing on Tuesday. Photo: Xinhua
Hu Xingdou, a specialist in migrant issues at the Beijing Institute of Technology and an outspoken critic on social issues, said he had been invited to meet Gabriel too, but could not go as he was teaching.
It was ridiculous that the police should be telling people like Mo they could not meet Gabriel, Hu added.
“This is China blackening its own name in front of Germany,” Hu said.
China generally takes exception to criticism of its human rights record by other countries, saying it amounts to an unwarranted interference in its internal affairs.
China this month accused Britain of interfering in its domestic affairs after the government criticised Beijing’s human rights record.
Chinese President Xi Jinping’s administration has ratcheted up pressure on dissent, detaining and jailing activists, clamping down on internet critics and tightening curbs on journalists in what some rights groups call the worst suppression of free expression in recent years.
