mr president the eu has clearly expressed its deep concern at the disproportionate sentence against the prominent human rights defender liu xiaobo of eleven years imprisonment for his role as the author of charter eight a blueprint for democratic and rights-based reform in china and for publishing a number of essays relating to human rights issues on the internet
we attach great importance to freedom of thought and expression cornerstones as we are all aware of our democratic system
the verdict against mr liu is entirely incompatible with the right to freedom of expression enshrined in the international covenant on civil and political rights to which china is a signatory
we are also attached by the way to the protection of the right to sexual expression and orientation as mentioned by mrs trüpel
the eu attempted to observe the trial and we deeply regret that our observers were barred from the courtroom
the details of the trial which we have nevertheless been able to learn indicate clearly that mr liu was not afforded the opportunity to present a proper defence and that he did not receive a fair trial
the eu will continue to call on the chinese government to unconditionally release mr liu and to end the harassment and detention of other signatories of charter two thousand and eight
our overall policy towards china is one of constructive engagement in the framework of our strategic partnership
on several occasions in the past we have welcomed china's progress with regard to social and economic rights as well as the recent launch of china's human rights action plan but on the other hand there are extremely serious concerns with regard to civil and political rights and a number of recent developments such as those that the honourable members of this house have raised in the draft resolution
the eu's commitment to human rights is conveyed during our regular political contacts and in particular during our human rights dialogue with the chinese authorities
the last session as you are aware was on twenty november last year in beijing
the strength of our relationship allows us to discuss those matters frankly
last year at the twelfth eu-china summit in nanjing human rights were raised both during the discussions and in the press conference
mrs vergiat and mrs korhola touched upon the cyber attacks against google
the commission thinks that this is another worrisome development in the framework of freedom of expression in china
we are obviously monitoring the situation closely
we understand that there are ongoing consultations between the company and the chinese authorities
we will remain vigilant in case similar attacks target eu companies
let me reassure this house that we will continue to raise those issues including at the highest level recalling the international human rights obligations of the people's republic of china
we also recall the chinese constitutional guarantees on freedom of expression
we all share the goal of a more open transparent china adhering to international standards on human rights and working together to address global challenges
to achieve this we must continue to work on the development of our strategic partnership
i would like to react to a question from mrs de keyser
regarding the execution of the british citizen akmal shaikh the european union has condemned his execution in the strongest possible terms
it deeply regrets the fact that china did not heed repeated calls by the european union and one of its member states for the death sentenced passed against mr shaikh to be commuted
