Shabnum Mustapha: We should talk human rights with China

This means going beyond the Scottish Government’s current strategy of promoting further trade and cultural links by pushing human rights further up the agenda.

The Scottish Government has been hosting a visit to Scotland by a delegation from China’s Shandong province. Amnesty International is calling on the Scottish Government to use this opportunity to raise concerns about human rights abuses in China – including the country’s continuing crackdown on freedom of expression and use of the death penalty. China executes more people than the rest of the world put together.

Scotland must stand tall when it comes to challenging human right abuses. Our history in showing solidarity with the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa is testament to that. We should speaking out in solidarity with Chinese dissident and Nobel Prize winner Liu Xiabo, who is still in a jail for drafting a manifesto calling for political change.

With our strong history in the arts and culture, we should be speaking out in solidarity with Chinese artist Ai Weiwei, who was detained last year and is now fighting tax evasion charges that seem to have appeared out of thin air.

We should also be speaking out in solidarity with Chen Gaungcheng, a legal activist from Shandong who has served more than four years in jail and, since 2010, both he and his wife have been held under illegal house arrest. Chen’s crime? He was attempting to bring a lawsuit against local authorities accused of forcing thousands of women to have abortions and sterilisation.

Amnesty welcomes the Scottish Government’s commitment to promoting climate justice in China. However, if it was unable to raise Chen’s case during the delegation visit, it would have been a missed opportunity.

It should not be too difficult for the Scottish Government to broach human rights issues as China is a signatory to the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

• Shabnum Mustapha is director of Amnesty International Scotland.