Human rights made it onto the agenda of issues discussed between Slovak Foreign Affairs Minister Miroslav Lajčák and a Chinese delegation visiting Slovakia on February 15.

Though the primary goal of the Chinese delegation, which included Chinese Deputy Prime Minister Hui Liangyu, Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Sung Tchao and Deputy Minister for Economic Affairs Sheng Chung, was to explore new avenues of cooperation with a focus on energy, nuclear safety and technological installations, Lajčák raised the issue of human rights in response to an appeal by 33 opposition MPs.

“It is the duty of political representatives of democratic countries in contact with Chinese representatives to open up the issue of human rights,” Ondrej Dostál, of the Conservative Institute of M. R. Štefánik, told The Slovak Spectator, adding that China is a world superpower, something which Slovakia cannot ignore, and that efforts toward developing economic ties with China are acceptable. “However, it is not correct to forget about the human rights violations in China and the fact that there is a communist regime in the country.”

Roman Cuprik. Article was published in the Slovakia`s English-language weekly The Slovak Spectator. Read the whole article here.