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)