TNAG-2469-FCO40-3593-Most-favoured-nation-status-for-China-Hong-Kong-interests-1992 — Page 108

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oppression and that sort of part is not allowed to be interpreted by individual Imam. In certain .. local people, and so it's idealogically controlled. Religion as a worship, is I think more free now.

Question: Did you say you had raised the issue of prison labour being used to produce goods for export?

Senator Schacht:

Mr. Sidoti:

Yes.

We did raise the issue and were told categorically as these official documents now reflect that there is an absolute ban on prison labour being used for any export products at all. They say that well they acknowledge that there have been incidents where some goods have in the past been exported. They say that there are a small number of incidents, that they took place by means of, I think they even said corruption on one occasion in one document I've seen. There certainly see them as being aberrations and there's no longer any possibility of that occurring.

We were also told by Chinese authorities, and I haven't checked this with the U.S., that there is now a U.S. customs official placed in the American Embassy in Beijing who is having some role in monitoring Chinese exports for that purpose because of US laws banning the import of prison produced goods.

Senator Schacht: Which is a further indication that the Chinese sensitivity to the trade with American imports and exports to America that they are willing to make that sort of concession to have someone from the customs department in Beijing monitoring because they know how important the trade is.

Question: And you found no evidence contrary to this absolute ban?

Mr. Sidoti: The only evidence in terms of going to a place was to the laojiao centre we went to in Shanghai yesterday and there for all the world to see, and so therefore quite deliberately for us to see, were prisoners making women's underwear of a very rough kind. So, the argument that they put forward is that any labour taking place within the camps is being used for the camp's own purpose, they farm to feed themselves, they make clothes to clothe themselves, obviously trying to show this to us.

Senator Schcht:

One desperate last question.

Question: As you are in Hong Kong the human rights issue is, and will be, an increasing matter for concern. Given the fact, apart from the politics aside, I am asking a human