【09.12.31 澳大利亚人报】UK blasts China over Briton Akmal Shaikh's execution

青蛙小王子

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/uk-blasts-china-over-briton-akmal-shaikhs-execution/story-e6frg6so-1225814830080
LONDON: Britain called in China's ambassador to vent its fury at the "unacceptable" execution of a mentally ill Briton, as the affair triggered a sharp chill between London and Beijing.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he was "appalled and disappointed" that China ignored repeated appeals to show mercy to Akmal Shaikh, who is said to have suffered from bipolar disorder.
"I made clear that the execution of Mr Shaikh was totally unacceptable and that China had failed in its basic human rights responsibilities," Foreign Office Minister Ivan Lewis said after "difficult" talks with China's envoy.
Shaikh, a 53-year-old father of three, was executed on Tuesday for drug smuggling despite ministerial lobbying that continued almost up to his death.
Mr Lewis, who had summoned China's ambassador, Fu Ying, late on Monday to make a failed last-minute appeal and then again on Tuesday, protested that Shaikh's medical condition was not taken into account.
"China needs to understand it will only ever achieve full respect around the world when it subscribes to basic standards of human rights," he said.
In Beijing, officials remained defiant. "China has fully protected the defendant's litigation rights," a Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Jiang, Yu said. "We express our strong dissatisfaction and opposition to Britain's accusations.
"We hope the British side will face this case squarely and not create new obstacles for China-Britain relations."
Britain has vast trade and economic ties with China, and has long underlined the need to engage closely with the emerging global powerhouse, despite criticism notably of China's human rights record.
But its ties with Beijing have been more complicated than with many other countries because of historical issues, including the 1997 return of Hong Kong to China. More recently, Britain risked Chinese ire in September by sending Mr Lewis to Tibet, where he underlined London's support for greater Tibetan autonomy.
And at this month's Copenhagen climate summit, Environment Minister Ed Miliband said China had led a group of countries that "hijacked" the negotiations.
The dispute over Shaikh's execution will only add to tensions.
He was arrested in September 2007 in Urumqi with 4kg of heroin, but campaigners say a criminal gang duped him into carrying the drugs. He was the first national from an EU country to be executed in China in 50 years.
AFP