The great differences

The European Parliament approved in recent days a report on the relations between the European Union and China, in which Europe’s interest in increasing its cooperation with China is expressed, though asking in return respect for rules in trade relations and in human rights, including religious freedom. The report identifies some current problems, including piracy and counterfeiting of trademarks and dumping in the shoe-manufacturing sector. In its long chapter devoted to human rights, the report makes an explicit appeal on behalf of the members of the Catholic Church, “unjustly detained and persecuted”, and condemns (among other things) the use of torture, capital punishment, the policy of re-education through hard labour, censorship on the internet, and the situation in Tibet. We spoke of the report, during a European meeting on China, with Father CARLOS RODRIGUEZ , Spanish Dominican who spent over 28 years as a missionary in Hong Kong and Taiwan. Europe has for years been asking China to cease its violations of human rights, but the signs of any response are not very positive, why? “We need to understand that the same notion of human rights does not operate in the West and in the East. For us rights spring in a natural manner from the fact of being a person. In China human rights are not innate but granted by the State, in accordance with the needs of society. Even the freedom of faith sanctioned by article 36 of the Chinese Constitution regards the right of the person to believe in something, but not the right to openly express it. If that faith is externalised, if it is expressed in public, it is then subject to regulation by the State. So we don’t speak of the same religious freedom. If these great differences between us are not understood, speeches become meaningless: when we speak together we fail to understand each other, because we are speaking of different things”. Are there hopes that gradually things may change, also thanks to the opening to Western markets? “I am hopeful that gradually the Chinese may agree to the request to respect human rights, because the Chinese are beginning to understand the conception of the West. They cannot permit their government to become like Russia. In recent years they’ve made a great deal of progress. Being members of the international community also means recognizing the need to change. If they have made less progress in more recent times, it’s because they know that Western society is eager to have trade relations with China. China has opened itself up a great deal and will open itself yet more, but according to its own timetable. Since the population is not yet prepared for a democratic change, people need first to be educated”. The EU accuses China of flouting commercial rules. What do you think? “It’s true that China flouts the rules because it sells many products below cost. Almost all the big Western businesses have relocated to China and India because labour is cheap and profits are high. The consequence is that the Chinese see and copy what they see. In many factories the same product commissioned by Western firms is also manufactured for sale on the domestic market. It’s made by the same workers who work in these factories by night, with the same materials and designs. The Chinese government shuts its eyes, but knows also that the opening up of markets spoken of in the West is a fiction, because Western leaders say one thing and do another. They preach human rights, but exploit Chinese workers. In Europe, for example, there are subsidies for agriculture, and foreign products are banned from entering in order not to depress prices. So, if we want justice we must begin by being the first to be just, by eliminating subsidies. Instead, the European Parliament has never been clear and honest and when it speaks with China the commercial onus is greater than the ethical one. Few voices really speak from an ethical point of view. For Europe does not wish to offend China for fear of commercial rights being removed from our firms present on Chinese territory. If we ask something of China, we ought to be the first to respect the rules. If we did so, we would have more moral authority in asking”. Could the European Churches do something? “Some church groups, religious congregations and dioceses are doing something, but still too little, because many European Churches are ignorant of the Chinese reality, which is in fact very complex. The Protestants are certainly doing more, also for the Chinese students who come to study in Europe. The Church in Europe in this period is devoting greater attention to the Middle East instead. Twinning between local churches and church groups would also be desirable; some have already begun”.