Dissidents step up pressure on Peking

ON THE eve of Tony Blair's arrival in China, dissidents have stepped up pressure on Peking to honour its signing yesterday of the UN Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

In the central city of Wuhan, Qin Yongmin, a pro-democracy activist, was detained and later released by police after trying to register his "China Human Rights Monitor Group". Mr Qin said he was told by Wuhan authorities that his group was an "illegal organisation".

Three dissidents in north-east China also published an open letter to Mr Blair. It calls on the Prime Minister, who arrives in Peking this morning, "not just to pay high-sounding lip-service to human rights, but to do his duty and take concrete measures" to press Peking for the release of a number of political prisoners.

The UN covenant enshrines the right to self-determination, to vote, and freedom of speech and assembly.

During his five-day trip to Peking, Shanghai and Hong Kong, Mr Blair is hoping to "consolidate a partnership" with China, and build on his personal relationship with the Chinese Prime Minister, Zhu Rongji. Measures to resolve the global financial crisis are expected to feature prominently in the talks with Mr Zhu. More than 20 top British business leaders are accompanying Mr Blair, part of a push to widen commercial links between the two countries.

Peking has told British officials that Mr Blair is viewed as the second most important state visitor this year, after President Bill Clinton's trip in June. As a mark of Mr Blair's status, the Chinese communist party mouthpiece, the People's Daily, this morning published a wide-ranging article in which he told readers: "I, like many in Europe, believe that human rights are universal." He added that the subject was "bound to be discussed" during his visit.

Western diplomats in Peking could not recall another instance where a foreign leader had been given a prominent platform in the flagship Chinese state newspaper. PresidentClinton set a more dramatic precedent for media access during his visit when his press conference was broadcast live on national Chinese television. Mr Blair's television interview will be pre-recorded this afternoon in Peking's Forbidden City, to be edited and broadcast later this week.

Among the myriad events around the Blair visit, today sees the opening of "British Law Week", involving nearly 50 British and 350 Chinese legal professionals. Tomorrow a mock British criminal trial - a robbery case - will be conducted in Peking by senior British legal figures, with the jury made up of Chinese judges, lawyers and legal professionals, to demonstrate some of the principles of Western justice. Cherie Blair, the Prime Minister's wife and a leading barrister, will attend part of the event.

Like many Western countries, Britain has decided that legal reform projects may assist the development of the "rule of law" in China, with potential human rights benefits. Over the next four days, closed-door seminars will cover everything from human rights legislation to insurance law.

In 1979, China had 212 lawyers. Now it boasts 110,000, but only 25 per cent have an undergraduate degree. Britain has for almost a decade brought Chinese lawyers to the UK for training and exposure to the Western legal system, and this autumn the first group of Chinese judges will be in England on a new scheme.

China has introduced some basic legal reforms but corruption, police brutality and political interference remain endemic across commercial, civil and criminal law.

Hu Xiaodong, 35, a private commercial lawyer, has been on two UK-funded training courses in Britain. "In China, everyone knows the bad practices in the court system," he says. "There are a number of corrupt judges. In litigation, you have to go to court and invite the judges to dinner and try to have good relations with them."

The abuses are most glaring in criminal justice.