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European leaders avoid rights talk during Li's visit

Chinese premier receives scant pushback on record of religious intolerance
European leaders avoid rights talk during Li's visit

Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi (right) welcomes his Chinese counterpart Li Keqiang (left) as he arrives for a meeting at the Palazzo Chigi on Tuesday in Rome (AFP Photo/Gabriel Bouys)

Published: October 15, 2014 10:51 AM GMT
Updated: October 14, 2014 11:51 PM GMT

With a combined 210 million Protestant, Catholic and Russian Orthodox believers, Russia, Germany and Italy are home to the largest Christian populations in Europe.

But as China’s Prime Minister Li Keqiang ended a weeklong business-oriented tour through Moscow, Berlin and finally Rome on Wednesday, it was clear, said rights groups and analysts, that European officials had studiously avoided raising the topic of China’s poor religious rights record.

Li landed in Rome on Tuesday to meet with Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, announcing US$10 billion in trade and investment deals including the supply of 50 helicopters to China by Italian defense contractor Finmeccanica.

“We must bring more China to Italy and take more Italy to China,” Renzi said during a joint press conference outside the Palazzo Chigi, his official residence in Rome.

Italy’s prime minister made no public reference to China’s rights situation, and a spokesman for his office did not respond on whether a reported rise in religious persecution this year would be discussed during closed-door meetings.

Chinese authorities have reportedly removed crosses and demolished hundreds of churches in Zhejiang province this year, according to rights groups including US-based China Aid.

“We hope that the issue of freedom of religion or belief in China, which is of crucial importance to the nation’s significant Catholic and Protestant populations, is not overlooked by diplomats and officials meeting with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang during his time in Europe,” London-based Christian Solidarity Worldwide said in an emailed statement on Tuesday ahead of Li’s arrival.

Recession-hit Italy in particular has not raised religion concerns because China has this year invested heavily in firms including Fiat and Telecom Italia, said Axel Berkofsky, research fellow at the Institute for International Political Studies in Milan.

“The Europeans have lost their appetite to discuss and argue with the Chinese on human rights,” he told ucanews.com. “The economic crisis in Southern Europe, and German businesses and trade interests in China, will continue to make sure that human rights do not become an issue of European-Chinese meetings.”

After talks with Li in Berlin last week, German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged China to show restraint amid ongoing democracy protests in Hong Kong but made no public reference to religious freedom.

Merkel told reporters in Berlin that talks had been “open and intense”, including on rights, but her ruling Christian Democratic Union party did not respond to emailed questions on whether the persecution of Christians was raised with Li in private.

Germany’s Chancellery was given a list of human rights concerns to discuss before the Chinese delegation arrived on Friday, which included Ilham Tohti, a minority Uyghur scholar sentenced to life in prison last month.

However, Christian persecution was not included, said Wolfgang Buettner, spokesman for Human Rights Watch in Berlin, adding that freedom of worship also had not come up since Germany began a government exchange program with China in 2011.

“Maybe it was touched upon but it hasn’t really been an issue,” he said. “It’s something that should be more prominent.”

Over the past three years, Germany and China have intensified economic cooperation, which last week included the signing of new deals worth $2.5 billion and plans to cooperate on education, healthcare, energy and technology.

After Berlin, Li flew to Moscow to sign agreements including plans for China to supply high-speed rail services ahead of his trip to Italy.

China’s prime minister was due at the UN Food and Agriculture Organization in Rome later on Wednesday ahead of the Asia-Europe Meeting in Milan on Thursday and Friday before returning to Beijing. 

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