The UN Human Rights Commissioner, Mrs Mary Robinson, won a commitment from Chinese President Jiang Zemin yesterday to press ahead with talks to improve freedom of speech and political rights.
But the undertaking came as Mrs Robinson was petitioned about deaths in police custody, arbitrary detention and house arrest. Three families in Xinzhou county, Hubei province, said police had killed their relatives in three incidents involving torture to extract confessions.
An activist in Shanghai said he was held under house arrest during Mrs Robinson's visit, and a recently-freed dissident protested against his three-year jail term handed down without trial.
In their 100-minute meeting yesterday, President Jiang and Mrs Robinson discussed how to achieve concrete results from their agreement to co-operate, signed at the start of her landmark visit.
"There was talk on all sides of a follow-up visit and emphasis on the need to achieve some concrete results such as sending a technical mission to assess the situation," said Mrs Robinson's spokesman, Mr Jose Diaz.
China - which has been heavily criticised for abuses ranging from arbitrary detention to religious intolerance or racial discrimination - recently signed the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. It has also pledged to sign a sister covenant on political and civil rights this autumn. The former notably guarantees the right to free trade unions while the latter enshrines, amongst other rights, the freedoms of association and press. Both require changes to Chinese legislation.
Mrs Robinson's meeting with Mr Jiang came as she wound up a 10-day trip to China and Tibet, aimed at strengthening dialogue between China and UN bodies on human rights. Mr Diaz said Mrs Robinson had discussed a list of "concerns and observations" ranging from arbitrary detention to torture, racial discrimination, religious intolerance and the rights of the child.
She had also requested information on the whereabouts of the child designated by Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, as the Panchen Lama, and a meeting with a prominent Tibetan monk, although these were both denied. Despite her criticism of Chinese rights violations, both Mr Jiang and Vice-Premier Qian Qichen were "very cordial" and congratulated Mrs Robinson on her historic visit, Mr Diaz added.
Mrs Robinson has come under fire from China's dissidents for failing to arrange any meetings outside her government-organised schedule and has received a torrent of petitions and appeals for help from activists within China. A Shanghai-based dissident said yesterday he had written to her to protest at his treatment during three years of detention without trial. Mr Hu Keshi, who was freed in May, accused the authorities of "trampling on human rights" by holding him for such a long period without trial in a re-education camp.
A second Shanghai dissident, Mr Han Lifa, said he had been placed under house arrest during Mrs Robinson's visit to the metropolis.
Three families also said yesterday that police in central China had killed at least three people they were holding in custody. In an appeal for assistance to Mr Robinson, the families said Mr Zhou Guiyi, Mr Xiao Beizhou and Mr Yu Li had all died at the hands of the Xinzhou county police in Hubei province.
Last week, Beijing police detained Ms Chu Hailan, the wife of an imprisoned labour activist who attempted to meet with Mrs Robinson, and held her for seven hours, prompting her to lodge a protest with the Chinese authorities.