International

SP Member of Parliament Harry van Bommel has expressed disappointment at the reactions which he has encountered in China in response to his concerns about the position of minorities there. ‘Reports from human rights organisations have shown time and again the serious abuses of rights, including those of the Tibetan and Uighur communities,’ says Van Bommel. ‘Political bigwigs in China tell me, however, that there’s nothing in these reports and that everything is going extraordinarily well. These reactions show clearly that when it comes to respect for the human rights of minorities in China there’s still a long way to go.’

On the second day of our visit to Beijing we met a number of creative people and political activists. Most striking was Ai Weiwei, the enfant terrible of the contemporary Chinese art scene. We met him in ‘art district 798’, named after one of the factories which once operated there. Nowadays it teems with art galleries and artists’ workshops.