With a clink of champagne glasses, the UN Human Rights Commissioner, Mrs Mary Robinson, and the Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister, Mr Wang Guangya, marked the joint signing in Beijing yesterday of a memorandum of intent on co-operation between China and the UN Human Rights Commission.
This technical agreement is widely seen as a prelude to the imminent signing by China of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. China has promised to sign this far-reaching rights covenant in the autumn, which in China has officially already begun, but Beijing officials refused to tell the UN human rights team if President Jiang Zemin would sign the covenant before she completes her nine-day visit next week.
Meanwhile, dissidents in China have seized on Mrs Robinson's visit to publicise their case. Yesterday, 139 activists sent a letter to court officials in the city of Hanzhong, in Shaanxi province, protesting against the conviction of an activist, Mr Zhao Changqing, who was sentenced to three years in prison recently on charges of disturbing social order after running in grassroots elections and challenging candidates of the ruling Communist Party, according to a Hong Kong-based human rights group.
It said it would pass the letter to Mrs Robinson along with petitions from relatives seeking the release of two other detained dissidents, Mr Lin Hai and Mr Chen Zengxiang.
Mr Lin was taken into custody in April for giving a US Internet magazine 30,000 e-mail addresses in China. Mr Chen was charged last month with "overthrowing state power" - membership in an underground opposition party.
Aides to Mrs Robinson said no petitions had been received up to last night. Mrs Robinson told her hosts during a human rights seminar that China would have an immediate obligation to respect and ensure all relevant rights when it ratified the covenant on civil and political rights.
Observers say its actual implementation would transform political life in communist China, where independent opposition parties, a free press and the expression of political dissent are banned. Mr Wang indicated, however, that China would look for a lengthy time period to implement the covenant, which after signing had to be ratified by the Chinese parliament.
China believed the "particulars of human rights" would be limited by the "social and political levels of the country", he said, and "in order to enjoy the ideals of human rights we must make a long-term effort."
The memorandum was signed after a meeting with officials in the Foreign Ministry. Mrs Robinson seemed taken aback when trays of drinks were produced for a toast, and reluctantly took the merest sip from her glass.
She said afterwards that following the signing of the memorandum she hoped Chinese officials would attend a UN seminar in Turin this year on reporting obligations under the UN covenants.
China has signed and ratified four of the six main human rights covenants, those concerning the elimination of racial discrimination, the elimination of discrimination against women, the end of torture and support for the rights of children. On October 27th last year, China signed the covenant on economic, social and cultural rights, but has yet to ratify it.
"Ratification of human rights treaties is no light matter," Mrs Robinson told Chinese human rights experts. She noted that Article 2 of the civil and political rights covenant requires an immediate obligation to respect and ensure all relevant rights.