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You going there and hopefully reporting, from their point of view that human rights are improving is part and parcel to
that.
Senator Schacht: I must say, the first report made it pretty clear that we didn't accept that human rights were any way in a reasonable position in China. We've yet to assess all the material. We've said the atmosphere is improving. I've said before that I can't give you any evidence that individual cases have improved. In terms of sentences being reduced, people being released, there are a few being released, mainly because their sentences have expired. But people are still being arrested for political activity, people are still being warned, people are still being watched; all things that I personally find anathema in an open society. Now other people are going to have to make the judgment of whether a country with such a system can successfully host the Olympic Games in the Year 2000 if they have a similar system in place. And then I just want to emphasise, I must say, if we were not Australians, I suspect we would have been able to play a much more vigorous view about the Olympic Games, Beijing's bid for it, but being Australians we are compromised by our own self-interest.
Question: But it should be a consideration?
Senator Schacht: I think any country in the world, on issues of the Olympic Games, international events, my personal view is human rights cannot be ignored. And if Australia is bidding, I would expect countries to say, "What's the human rights situation in Australia?" For example, I suspect some will say: "Is the situation of the Aboriginal people in Australia a consideration to be looked at in Australia's bid for the Olympic Games for Sydney for the Year 2000. You cannot ignore it, and China can't ignore it, it's just that we were in a self-interested position.
Question: Given the turmoil in nearby formerly Soviet Central Asia, one would have thought that there would be great sensitivity about "splittism" in Xinjiang and yet you were allowed to visit there. What do you assess the impact of developments in the Soviet Union, on the human rights situation? Isn't it leading to a Chinese tendency to crack- down there too, or are they noticeably more open about Xinjiang than they are about Tibet?
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Senator Schacht: I will ask Dilber to comment on that, but the one comment when we raised it - well, I can remember raising it was from the officials in the province, the autonomous region, made it quite clear that the turmoil in the old Soviet Central Republics has nothing to do with them and has had no influence at all, which most of us believe is a very myopic view to have. But I would ask Dilber to make