Vol. 486 No. 1
303 Mr. Gormley asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the representations, if any, which have been made by the Government in relation to the continued imprisonment of a Chinese dissident and Tiananmen Square survivor (details supplied) and the support, if any, the Government has given to the campaign to seek that he and recently released dissident (details supplied) be given the 1998 Nobel Peace Prize. [2036/98]
Representations have been made to the Chinese authorities in relation to the imprisonment both of Wang Dan and Wei Jingsheng. We welcomed therefore the release from prison of Wei Jingsheng last November.
The case of Wang Dan was one of those raised with the Chinese authorities by the EU side in the course of the EU-China human rights dialogue which held its most recent session in Beijing on 1-2 December last. His case was also raised by the current President of the EU Council of Ministers, Mr. Robin Cook, during his official visit to Beijing on 19-20 January. Regrettably, Wang Dan remains imprisoned at present in Lin Xiao where he is serving a sentence of 11 years for unauthorised political activities.
The Government will continue to use every opportunity in their contacts with the Chinese authorities to raise the cases of prisoners like Wang Dan whose human and civil rights are believed to have been abused.
As regards the award of the Nobel Peace Prize, this is a matter for the Norwegian committee constituted for that purpose; it would not be appropriate for the Government to make representations to that committee on behalf of political activists in foreign countries.
