TNAG-2469-FCO40-3593-Most-favoured-nation-status-for-China-Hong-Kong-interests-1992 — Page 101

15.

so on and so on. But it was quite interesting that within that context of discussing precisely this point, that example was given, the case of China intervening directly, at least in terms of making strong comments on the human rights situation in another country, which is something we certainly didn't hear previously.

Mr Garratt: A further gloss on your question, in relation to Tibet. In discussions both in Beijing, in Urumqi and in Chengdu, the Chinese position remains exceedingly hard and there doesn't seem to be any sensitivity at all towards international concerns. We perceived very hard ideological positions in Beijing, and that was confirmed in official meetings wherever we went, that they were not prepared to move at all.

Senator Schacht: Any suggestion you would raise human rights in Tibet, this time we were all admonished with the term that we were "splittists"; we were encouraging the break-up of China. And apparently, at the moment being described as splittist is about the worst ideological crime people can be considered with.

Dr Rigby: The automatic assumption is that if you raise the question of human rights in Tibet you are advocating Tibetan independence and by advocating Tibetan independence you are insisting that Tibet be returned to the situation that pertained before 1949. And any suggestion that, we are simply talking about human rights in Tibet, as we talk about human rights in other parts of China, they found very difficult to accept.

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Senator Schacht: We were given a very strong

- there was a very robust discussion - a very strong critical comment about the fact that the Dalai Llama had this year visited Australia and had met the Prime Minister and the Foreign Affairs Minister and other senior Australian public officials and the Parliamentarians. We were given a very strong criticism that this was uncalled for and was damaging to Australian-Chinese relations. I suspected that a lot of that was form, that we expected them to do it and they expected us to know that they were expected to do it and so on, but every now and again it came up in terms of, that the Dalai Llama is a splittist and that therefore we should not be encouraging "splittism". But we made our case very

clear.

Question: Were your comments you made about Tibet in your report from you last visit specifically centred for criticism, and specifically what was it?

Senator Schacht: The big criticism is that it wasn't factual, in some parts, particularly the section on Tibet