The Eu's Human Rights Dialogue With China: Quiet Diplomacy and Its Limits by Katrin Kinzelbach

Author:Katrin Kinzelbach [Kinzelbach, Katrin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Political Science, General
ISBN: 9781317610496
Google: RFyvBAAAQBAJ
Goodreads: 23370071
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2013-02-11T00:00:00+00:00

In respect of the merits of the EU–China Human Rights Dialogue as an instrument of EU foreign policy towards China, the EU Council argued that it “remains a valuable process and has the potential to impact positively on the human rights situation in China” (Council of the European Union 2004d, para. 4). For the first time, the Council also passed some self-critical statements on the EU–China Human Rights Dialogue, notably on the need for better preparation and follow-up and an improved management of the list of individual cases. Substantively, the evaluation did not re-adjust the EU’s human rights policy towards China, nor did it alter the eight benchmarks announced by the Council of the European Union in 2001. Rather, the existing benchmarks were further institutionalized through the evaluation’s suggestion that all future reports by the European Heads of Mission in China and memoranda on Dialogue sessions be structured in accordance with the benchmarks, thereby introducing for the first time a systematic structure in the EU’s internal reporting on human rights in China. Once the EU had completed its evaluation, the Chinese MFA asked to see it. But the EU declined, and the MFA decided to conduct its own evaluation and to brief the EU on its main findings. Reportedly, the Dialogue’s two key achievements from the Chinese point of view were that the EU had not co-sponsored a resolution on China since the inception of the Dialogue and that the Dialogue had given Chinese diplomats an opportunity to provide detailed briefings on Chinese accomplishments, thereby improving the EU’s understanding of China’s human rights situation. Evidently, after 18 rounds of dialogue, the two sides still pursued different objectives in the talks.

On 8 December 2004, the seventh EU–China Summit took place in The Hague and, as customary, the joint EU–China Summit statement also referred to human rights. This time, the communiqué stated that the Dialogue “promoted mutual understanding”, but it also “underlined the importance of concrete steps in the field of human rights”. Both sides “reaffirmed their commitment to further enhance cooperation and exchanges in this field on the basis of equality and mutual respect” (Council of the European Union 2004f, para. 9). Regarding the arms embargo, the EU merely “confirmed its political will to continue to work towards lifting the embargo”, and mentioned that work on the European Union Code of Conduct on Arms Exports was continuing, while the Chinese side “welcomed the positive signal, and considered it beneficial to the sound development of the comprehensive strategic partnership between China and the EU” (Council of the European Union 2004f, para. 7).

In what had by now become standard practice, both sides reassured each other of the importance of technical dialogue and, using standing phrases, spoke of meaningful results as well as of equality and mutual respect. This practice was in marked difference to the EU’s initial announcements on how best to address human rights concerns in its relationship with China. When the confidential EU– China Human Rights Dialogue was initiated in 1995,

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.