Western Idea of Human Rights Is Foreign, Japan Leader Tells China

Japanese Prime Minister Morihiro Hosokawa said Monday that he had told his Chinese counterpart, Li Peng, that the Western concept of human rights should not be blindly applied to all nations.

“I told him that it is not proper to force a Western- or European-type democracy onto others,” Hosokawa told reporters en route to Tokyo via Shanghai after his three-day trip to China.

“I made the same statement when I met President Clinton last November” in Seattle, Hosokawa said.

His controversial remarks were made at a banquet hosted by Li on Saturday.

Japanese Foreign Ministry officials traveling with Hosokawa had not made the prime minister’s statement public to reporters in Beijing.

They had only said Hosokawa urged Beijing to improve its human rights record.

Japan is locked in a difficult diplomatic situation as it wants to strengthen ties with China--the world’s fastest-growing economy--while facing a bitter trade dispute with the United States.

U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher, in Tokyo earlier this month before going on to Beijing, asked Hosokawa to cooperate with Washington in pressing China to better its human rights record.

Christopher later warned China’s leaders that they stand to lose their preferential trading status if they did not show progress on human rights.

In a sharp rebuff, Chinese police rounded up dissidents before and during his visit.

On Sunday, Christopher said he was optimistic that China will meet Washington’s demands for human rights improvements.