In an announcement apparently timed to coincide with a visit by the UN Secretary-General, Mr Kofi Annan, to Beijing, Mrs Mary Robinson revealed in Geneva yesterday that she plans to go to China in September. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights also said that a visit to Tibet was under discussion with the Chinese authorities.
Mr Annan arrived in China yesterday on a tour of five permanent member-states of the UN Security Council. He said after talks with the Vice-Premier, Mr Qian Qi chen, that he welcomed China's pledge to sign a UN treaty guaranteeing political and social rights and that that he was very pleased by Beijing's invitation extended earlier this year to Mrs Robinson.
Mrs Robinson told a breakfast meeting with reporters in Geneva that the aim of her six-day official visit would be to boost China's national capacity to protect and promote human rights.
The former Irish president said she was in dialogue with the government of China and the visit would be followed by an "after-process".
"All of this is about national capacity building," she said. "It will not mean that serious problems are not there or that serious problems suddenly disappear. Of course not. But then each country has human rights problems. I do believe in an approach to national capacity building of human rights in China. I find it is well worth encouraging and supporting."
In January the Chinese government invited Mrs Robinson to visit as part of a campaign to convince its critics in the international community that it was serious about dialogue over human rights.
"Both Mrs Robinson and myself are very pleased with this development, and we look forward to working with China as we would work with other governments on human rights issues," Mr Annan said. He welcomed Beijing's promise to sign the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
Beijing has been accused by human rights bodies of suppressing Tibetan culture, while China maintains it is raising living standards as a practical way of improving human rights.