EUROPEAN UNION. EU PRESSES CHINA ON TORTURE, DEATH PENALTY

May 26, 2006: the European Union pressed China about its use of torture and the death penalty as EU and Chinese officials wrapped up two days of meetings on human rights issues. Envoys from the EU and China convened the 21st round of their joint human rights dialogue in Austria, which held the rotating EU presidency. The talks also touched on media and Internet restrictions, the arrests and intimidation of journalists and the shutdown of newspapers, the EU said in a statement. 
It said the Chinese delegation, led by Wu Hailong, a senior Foreign Ministry official, briefed the EU on steps aimed at preventing torture, including measures to establish a system of recording police interrogations, and a review of death penalty cases. The two sides also discussed the harvesting and transplantation of organs from executed prisoners, the statement said.
The EU also expressed concern regarding freedom of religion and rights of minorities in Tibet and Xinjiang, it said.
China and the EU will hold another round on talks on human rights later this year, when Finland assumes the EU presidency, officials said. (Sources: Dow Jones Commodities Service, 26/05/2006)