Human Rights Topics Not Linked to Trade Talks Between China and the EU

The shadows of China's long history of human rights violations has often been somewhat of a millstone around the Asian powers neck when it came to dealing with western interests. That seems to have changed as the European Union and China have opened new talks on trade and energy. During this round of negotiations, the EU has made it very clear that progress will not hinge on China making progress on issues concerning human rights.

Despite this departure from the tone of past summits, Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao issued a statement from the Helsinki meeting where he touted the progress made by the Chinese Government on human rights concerns. The Prime Minister also continued to stand behind China's commitment to the death penalty. This one topic has long been a sticking point in negotiations with the EU. On a positive note, Jiabao pledged to the EU that there would be more enforcement of intellectual property rights. This would be done to alleviate the concerns of the European Union over the outright counterfeiting of European products in China.

Even though progress has been made between the two economic powers, Prime Minister Wen Jiabao was still critical of the EU for their continued reluctance to acknowledge China as a proper market economy. He also was displeased that the EU still maintained an arms export embargo that has been in place since the Chinese government slaughtered peaceful protesters in Tiananmen Square back in 1989.