China on Tuesday urged Malaysia to investigate and severely
punish those responsible for the alleged cases of assault and
humiliating treatment of Chinese women.
China's Foreign Ministry and Embassy in Malaysia have expressed
grave concern over the cases and made strong representations to the
Malaysian government, demanding immediate investigation and severe
punishment of the offenders, the ministry's spokesperson Liu
Jianchao said at yesterday's regular press conference.
Among the cases, a woman, believed to be a Chinese national, was
forced to do squats in front of a woman in police uniform in a room
with some onlookers. The scene was videotaped and shown to
Malaysian ministers and parliament members as evidence, Malaysian
national news agency Bernama reported on Friday.
Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi had reportedly
asked the police authorities not to "hide" any facts in their probe
into the video footage. Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak
also said that Malaysia would carry out a thorough investigation
into the video evidence and would not protect the perpetrators,
according to Bernama.
"The Chinese government has always considered it important to
protect the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese citizens
from being violated," Liu said.
The Chinese side has noticed the promise of senior Malaysian
officials to investigate the cases earnestly, he said.
Liu stressed "China will continue to urge Malaysia to
investigate and deal with these cases in a serious and just manner
and bring the troublemakers to justice so as to really protect the
dignity and safety of Chinese citizens and prevent such cases from
happening again."
He said the two nations enjoy very active communications in
various fields, and a safe and sound living environment for each
other's citizens is key to expanding mutual cooperation.
In response to a question on Malaysian Minister of Interior Azmi
Khalid's possible visit to China, Liu said the two countries have
been discussing details for the "important visit" on a date that is
suitable for both sides.
China welcomes Khalid to come for a visit, which will play a
positive role in pushing forward bilateral cooperation in certain
fields, he said.
The Foreign Ministry announced last Thursday that Premier Wen
Jiabao will visit Malaysia in mid-December.
Turning to the toxic spill in the Songhua River, Liu said China
is taking various measures to minimize the impact it might have on
Russia's Far East region.
Both the Chinese and Russian governments attach great importance
to the incident and hope it does not cast a shadow over
China-Russia relations, Liu said.
He said China has always responsibly handled issues of its
border rivers with other countries.
"China will take into consideration the concerns and interests
of the countries downstream of the rivers whenever it takes action
in the upper stream," he added.
A blast at a northeast China chemical plant on November 13 sent
an 80-kilometer-long slick of benzene into the Songhua River, which
flows through China's Jilin and Heilongjiang provinces and then
into Russia's Far East region.
Liu said China has closely watched the situation and provided
Russia with relevant information on November 22. Since last
Thursday, China has been giving Russia daily updates of the
pollution situation.
He reaffirmed that China will try its best to take all measures
to reduce the possible bad impact on Russia.
He said State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA)
Deputy Director Zhang Lijun held talks Monday night with a Russian
Delegation of Khabarovsk Environmental Protection Bureau to discuss
how they could deal with the pollution incident.
Zhang informed the delegation in detail of the river pollution,
including the sorts of pollutants, the density and location of the
pollution belt, and sent Russia a set of benzene quick-detection
devices, Liu said.
He said SEPA welcomes cooperation with international
organizations.
According to Liu, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan will discuss a
plan to reform the UN Security Council during a visit to China from
December 4 to 7.
"It will be Annan's seventh visit to China since he took office,
and the two sides will exchange views on international and regional
issues of common interest," Liu said.
Annan and Chinese leaders would also discuss proposals to reform
the Security Council to make it more representative, he said,
sidestepping a question on whether China and Japan would hold talks
on the issue next month.
"China supports reform of the UN Security Council ... but
priority should be given to increasing the representation of
developing countries, especially African countries," he said.
Annan has pushed hard for reform to take place by the end of the
year, arguing that the council still reflects the balance of power
at the end of World War II: China, the US, Russia, the UK and
France being the permanent members with veto power.
Liu also said the current visit by Manfred Novak, special
rapporteur on torture of the UN Human Rights Commission, has been
"smooth."
He said over the past few days Novak has met and held talks with
officials from the ministries of foreign affairs, justice and
public security as well as the Supreme People's Procuratorate.
Novak visited some houses of detention and talked with NGO
personnel, lawyers and scholars, Liu said, adding that Novak will
also visit Tibet Autonomous Region and Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous
Region.
Novak arrived in China on November 21 for a visit that ends on
December 2.
(Xinhua News Agency, China Daily November 30, 2005)