certain articles of the penal code, the release of some long term
prisoners and the commutation of death sentences. But the new
anti-terrorist legislation contained some problems. Could the
Secretary of State help? The Secretary of State replied that he was
perfectly prepared to do so. Turkey was one place where we could
help.
SOUTH AFRICA
8.
Mr Bull raised South Africa. There was still allegations of
complicity by the Security Forces in unlawful killings. Section 29
of the Security Act, which provided for detention without trial,
needed to be repealed if political confidence were to be created.
The Secretary of State commented that he thought that most African
countries have such provision. Mr Gass recalled that
President De Klerk had referred to
Section 29 in his speech in
Parliament. The Secretary of State said he would look in to the
question.
CHINA
9.
Mr. Jones asked what response the Secretary of State had had in
China when he raised human rights. The Secretary of State replied
that he had raised three items: the list supplied by
Amnesty International, four specific Hong Kong cases and Tibet. It
was slightly encouraging that he had been given a hearing. In the
past he would have been told that it was none of his business. But he could not pretend to have got anywhere. Dumas and Mr Kimmitt had
likewise raised human rights with the Chinese. He himself had
raised Tibet with the Party General Secretary, and had been told
that Tibet was open for people to go and look. This was better than
nothing. Generally, there was a tendency for conversations at the top to contradict each other, the result of economic reformism
contradicting political rigidity. His personal prophecy was reasonably favourable, though things would take a long time. It was for example a considerable step that the Chinese Press now sometimes carried human rights stories, though admittedly quoting foreign
sources.
HRRAAB