Right after complimenting Australia’s diplomatic establishment on its current performance in China, I read @PearsonElaine good dispatch indicating that the Ministry recently abolished the human rights post at its Beijing embassy! 1/n
hrw.org/news/2020/09/0…
I’m sure that was not done on the theory that, since the PRC no longer even pretends to protect political rights, there is no need to cover the subject. The job has undoubtedly been allocated to another staff position but the optics are awful, especially at this time. 2/n
Some embarrassed explanation can be expected.
Ms. Pearson also raises the even more difficult problem of foreign embassy and consular protection of Chinese human rights activists. 3/5
This makes one recall the challenges to the US Embassy in Beijing when the famous Professor Fang Lizhi turned up on its doorstep in 1989 and when the courageous human rights campaigner Chen Guangcheng sought refuge in 2012. 4/5
Various foreign embassies should expect more such challenges in the present era. I wonder, for example, whether the Czech Government and Parliament have thought about this problem!! 5/5
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