The consistent view of the Government has been and is one of total opposition to the use of the death penalty. The Deputy will be aware of the efforts we have made, in conjunction with our EU partners and in accordance with the common EU guidelines on the issue of the death penalty, to seek its universal abolition.
The use of the death penalty in China is of particular concern. A recent EU Heads of Mission report confirmed that China continues to lead the world in the number of executions and the number of offences for which the death penalty can be used. I am particularly concerned by reports that the number of executions has increased this year with the launch of the so-called "Strike Hard" campaign. This is despite Chinese assurances to the EU that their final goal was the abolition of the death penalty.
I, along with EU partners, raise human rights issues and in particular our objection to the use of the death penalty, at every appropriate occasion in dialogue with the Chinese. The most effective mechanism for making our concerns known is the EU-China Human Rights Dialogue, the last session of which took place on 25-26 October 2001 in Beijing. At that session, the EU reiterated its call for the abolition of capital punishment and expressed its concerns about the increased number of executions. The EU also sought to secure official statistics about the use of the death penalty, which were not forthcoming from the Chinese side.