ACTIVITIES OF SECRETARY-GENERAL IN CHINA 14-17 NOVEMBER

Press Release
SG/T/2208

ACTIVITIES OF SECRETARY-GENERAL IN CHINA 14-17 NOVEMBER

The Secretary-General spent the weekend of 13-14 November in Kyoto, Japan, and departed from there to China on Sunday evening.

On Monday morning, he received the President of Burundi, Pierre Buyoya, who was also in China, for a meeting at the United Nations House in Beijing. Their discussion lasted for some 40 minutes and the two leaders reviewed the situation in Burundi and the country’s peace process. In addition to security conditions, they also discussed the “camps de regroupment” and the process of identifying a new moderator for the peace process.

In the afternoon, the Secretary-General was briefed on the work of the United Nations in China by the United Nations Resident Coordinator, Kirsten Laitner, and the heads of United Nations agencies operating in the country. This year, United Nations programmes and funds are commemorating 20 years of cooperation with China, which includes activities in the areas of poverty alleviation, environment, health care, gender issues and good governance.

During the day, the Secretary-General and Mrs. Annan visited the Dong yue Temple, built in 1322, recently renovated and opened to the public in February, and the Ming Tombs, where 13 emperors of the Ming dynasty were buried.

On Tuesday, 16 November, the Secretary-General started the day meeting Tang Jiaxuan, Minister for Foreign Affairs. The meeting lasted for two and a half hours. It was followed by a joint press encounter by the Foreign Minister and the Secretary-General. Discussions between the two principals continued during the luncheon offered by Mr. Tang. That afternoon, the Secretary-General met with President Jiang Zemin and afterwards had a meeting with Qian Qichen, Vice Premier.

On Tuesday evening, Vice Premier Qian hosted a dinner in honour of the Secretary-General and Mrs. Annan.

The Secretary-General had frank and productive discussions with Chinese authorities at the highest levels on a wide range of political, economic, social, disarmament and human rights issues. They dealt not only with regional matters, but also Africa, the Middle East and the Balkans. They reviewed in detail the situation in East Timor. The Chinese authorities reiterated their support for the work of the United Nations during the transition period in East Timor, and said they were ready to increase the participation of Chinese nationals in the United Nations operation there. The Secretary-General also congratulated China’s leadership on the success of the negotiations with the US on China’s accession to the World Trade Organization.

- 2 - Press Release SG/T/2208 18 November 1999

With the Deputy Prime Minister, the Secretary-General discussed the need to strengthen the role of the United Nations, focusing on the forthcoming Millennium Summit and Assembly. They also had a substantive exchange on disarmament issues. The Foreign Minister and the Secretary-General discussed the possibility of Beijing hosting the Asia-Pacific Regional Workshop on Human Rights, scheduled for early next year.

The Secretary-General raised the Falun Gong issue with the Foreign Minister as well as with the President. The Chinese authorities explained how they saw the problem and expressed their view that the Falun Gong movement was a cult. The Government’s duty, according to the Chinese leaders, was to protect the citizens from the risk Falun Gong posed. The Secretary-General was assured that the cases of those arrested would be dealt with according to the law. He impressed upon his interlocutors the importance of respecting the fundamental rights of those involved.

The Secretary-General offered the assistance, should the Chinese authorities wish to make use of it, of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) project on governance, in order to help strengthen the country’s capacity to deal with this kind of problem in accordance with international practice and norms.

On Wednesday, 17 November, the Secretary-General’s last activity on his visit to China was to open the “United Nations in the Twenty-First Century”, a seminar organized by the United Nations Association of China. Upon introducing the Secretary-General, the Association’s President, Xie Qimoi, said that people of the world were concerned about the future of the United Nations. The Kosovo crisis, poverty and globalization were among the issues he mentioned as in need of more reflection.

In his opening remarks to this scholars’ seminar, the Secretary-General concentrated on two issues. The first one was on the “tension between the cardinal principle of sovereignty and the equally fundamental value of human rights -- both enshrined in the United Nations Charter”.

The second topic was Dialogue among Civilizations. He said that the battle for tolerance and against intolerance still needed to be fought. “Without question, the conflicts of the post-cold war world -- from Rwanda to the Balkans to Indonesia - were all rooted in the absence of tolerance and the demonization of particular groups or ethnicities” (see SG/SM/7223).

The Secretary-General took questions from the floor, which ranged from humanitarian intervention and sovereignty to the disabled, women’s rights and the relationship between development, peace and human rights.

The Secretary-General participated in the seminar for over one hour. He departed for Istanbul, Turkey, in the afternoon.

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