AUSTRALIA-CHINA HUMAN RIGHTS DIALOGUE: HEATED

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 BEIJING 005266

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR EAP AND DRL
NSC FOR ABRAMS/WILDER

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/10/2017
TAGS: PHUM PREL PGOV CN AS
SUBJECT: AUSTRALIA-CHINA HUMAN RIGHTS DIALOGUE: HEATED
EXCHANGE ON TIBET, BEIJING BACKSLIDES ON NGO PARTICIPATION

REF: A. BEIJING 5064


B. BEIJING 4871

Classified By: Political Internal Unit Chief
Dan Kritenbrink. Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).

SUMMARY
--------------


1. (C) Australian Embassy Human Rights Officer Aviva
Gulley described the July 30 Australia-China Human
Rights dialogue as a mostly cordial exchange during
which the Chinese side gave little ground and stuck to
boilerplate responses. The Chinese delegation leader,
Assistant Foreign Minister He Yafei, showed annoyance
when Australia raised religious freedom issues related
to Tibet and Xinjiang and expressed strong
dissatisfaction with Australian Prime Minister John
Howard's June 15 meeting with the Dalai Lama. The
Australian side voiced disappointment that China did
not follow through with a promise to allow Australian
NGOs to participate in the meetings. The Australians
also pressed the Chinese on various legal issues such
as the frequent detention and harassment of defense
lawyers, the non-transparent use of the death penalty
and the reeducation-through-labor (RTL) system. The
Chinese offered that the PRC might consider lowering
the maximum RTL sentence from three years to one. End
summary.


2. (C) Australian Embassy Human Rights Officer Aviva
Gulley provided Poloff with a readout of the 11th
round of the Australia-China Human Rights Dialogue,
which took place July 30 in Beijing. The theme of the
most recent round was the role of legal professionals
in protecting human rights. In keeping with the legal
theme, the Chinese side included a wide range of
officials from the Supreme People's Court, the
Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of
Justice, among other agencies.

Atmosphere and Chinese Tactics
--------------


3. (C) Gulley reported that the talks were conducted
in a "reasonable" and "not unfriendly" atmosphere,
except when the talks turned to Tibet. Compared with
the previous round in 2006, the Chinese position was
"firmer" on most issues. Gulley attributed this
change to China's new delegation head: Assistant
Foreign Minister (AFM) He Yafei, responsible for North
American and Oceania Affairs. In previous rounds, AFM
Cui Tiankai, who overseas the MFA's International
Organizations and Conferences Department, had led the
talks. Peter Grey, Deputy Foreign Secretary, headed
the Australian delegation. Gulley said throughout
this round, the Chinese side employed two distinct
tactics. First, AFM He and other Chinese officials
would employ the "you-don't-understand-China laugh"
and dismiss Australian information as inaccurate.
Second, the Chinese delegation would frequently try to
run down the clock with long monologues.

China Stalls on Including Australian NGOs
--------------


4. (C) Gulley said the Australian side was
disappointed that China failed to follow through on a
promise, made by AFM Cui in 2006, to allow Australian
NGOs to participate in this year's round. As the day
of the dialogue approached, China would not commit to
allowing the NGOs into the meetings. In the end, the
Australian NGOs were unwilling to travel to Beijing
without some guarantee that they would have a role in
the talks. Beyond the July 30 dialogue, Gulley noted
difficulties the Australians were having working with
Chinese NGOs. For example, as part of Australia's USD
1.7 million bilateral technical human rights
cooperation program, Canberra is assisting the Beijing
Legal Aid Office for Rural Migrants. The Aid Office
was going to conduct a legal training seminar for
migrant workers in Hebei Province, Gulley said, but
China's Ministry of Justice withheld approval.

Falun Gong, Free Speech, Death Penalty
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BEIJING 00005266 002 OF 003



5. (C) During the dialogue, the Australian side raised
concerns over the persecution of Falun Gong (FLG)
followers, media restrictions and China's use of the
death penalty. Grey said Australia welcomed China's
decision to relax restrictions on foreign journalists
and expressed hope that Chinese journalists will enjoy
more freedoms. Australia also noted the lack of clear
statistics on the number of executions in China. AFM
He responded with well-worn statements about China's
constitution already guaranteeing freedom of speech.
The Chinese side claimed the quality of death penalty
statistics will improve now that all capital
punishment cases are reviewed by the Supreme People's
Court rather than by provincial courts. Regarding
FLG, the Chinese side pushed back, complaining that
FLG followers in Australia were frequently harassing
Chinese tourists.

Tibet
--------------


6. (C) The dialogue grew heated when the discussion
turned to Tibet, Gulley said. The Chinese side issued
a long blast regarding Australian Prime Minister John
Howard's June 15 meeting with the Dalai Lama. A
representative of the United Front Work Department
also launched into a lengthy lecture on the process of
reincarnation and defended the Chinese government's
prerogative to approve "living Buddhas." When the
Australian side raised the detention of the Dalai
Lama-approved Panchen Lama, the Chinese side dismissed
Australian concerns outright. The person the
Australians referred to was not the real Panchen Lama,
the Australians were told; therefore, persecution of
the Panchen Lama is a non-issue.

Xinjiang, DPRK Refugees, Detention of Lawyers
--------------


7. (C) The Australian side also raised concerns over
the confiscation of the passports of Uighur Muslims in
Xinjiang (to avoid surreptitious Hajj travel, see Ref
B),the deportation of North Korean refugees and the
routine detention of lawyers involved in sensitive
human rights cases, Gulley said. On these points, the
Chinese side provided little of note beyond arguing
that the Australians did not understand the real
situation in Xinjiang, North Koreans are economic
migrants and there are no constraints on Chinese
defense lawyers. The Ministry of Justice and the All
China Lawyers Association representatives, Gulley
said, added the dubious claim that fewer than ten
lawyers are currently under detention in China.

Reeducation Through Labor
--------------


8. (C) In addition to the treatment of defense
lawyers, the Australian side also raised China's
reeducation-through-labor (RTL) system of
administrative detention, under which people can be
sent to labor camps for up to three years without
trial. The Chinese side said the RTL system was
suited to China's conditions and could even serve as a
model for other countries. The Chinese government,
however, is considering lowering the maximum sentence
from three years to one.

China Hits Back on Housing Prices
--------------


9. (C) When it came time for China to raise its
concerns about human rights in Australia, AFM He
mentioned the lack of affordable housing in Australia.
Gulley explained the Chinese were likely referring to
a recent report by the United Nations Special
Rapporteur on adequate housing which singled out
Australia for criticism. Grey responded that
Australia has one of the highest home-ownership rates
in the world. China also raised concern over
Australia's treatment of indigenous people and cited
the high rates of child abuse in aboriginal
communities.

Field Visits
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BEIJING 00005266 003 OF 003



10. (C) Following the plenary session of the dialogue,
the Australians conducted several separate meetings in
Beijing and Wuhan, the primary goal of which was to
establish contact with various components of China's
public security apparatus. Gulley indicated the
Australian delegation was generally pleased with the
level of access granted for these meetings. Of
particular note, Grey and the delegation visited the
Committee for the Comprehensive Management of Social
Security, a Communist Party office under the Central
Committee. While there, Committee officials described
security as "the most fundamental of all human
rights." In Wuhan, the delegation also visited a
prison and observed a trial.
RANDT