British Prime Minister Gordon Brown should use his trip to Beijing to discuss urgent domestic and international human rights concerns with the Chinese government, Human Rights Watch said today in a letter to the prime minister. Brown will be visiting China from January 18 to 20.

“With the Beijing Olympics just months away, Brown has a golden opportunity to press the Chinese leadership on human rights issues,” said Sophie Richardson, Asia advocacy director at Human Rights Watch. “But the moment will be wasted if Brown doesn’t make specific requests and urge specific Chinese action.”

In its letter, Human Rights Watch urged Brown to discuss six issues with the Chinese leadership:

• China’s failure to fully implement new regulations allowing greater press freedom. Should China not implement the new regulations by April, Human Rights Watch has called on senior British officials not to attend the opening or closing ceremonies of the Beijing Olympic Games.
• The re-arrest on December 27, 2007 of prominent HIV/AIDS activist Hu Jia. Brown should seek to meet Hu, as such visits often bring a degree of protection to human rights defenders being harassed by the government.
• China’s superficial commitments to upholding the rule of law. Human Rights Watch asks Brown to make the arbitrary arrest, detention, or supervision of lawyers a prominent topic at the upcoming UK-China human rights dialogues.

“China’s position on human rights runs through all aspects of its relationship with Britain – economic, Olympic, security, health, and international cooperation,” said Richardson. “Prime Minister Brown has multiple venues in which he can – and should – raise these concerns.”