Responding to news that First Minister Jack McConnell has raised the issue of human rights on his visit to China [1],

Chris Ballance MSP said:

"I am delighted to hear that he has responded to calls from myself and from the cross-party group on Tibet to raise the issues of human rights. It is right that we should engage in dialogue with China, and encourage it to become aware of the strength of feeling internationally on Tibet. I also welcome the fact that the Chinese recently received a delegation from His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and hope that that dialogue will also continue.

"What we do not want is trade with no reference to the atrocious human rights record. Greens also support the
continuation of the EU embargo on arms sales to China, and I have put a motion down in the parliament to that effect. It is always better to talk with people than not - but we must remember that China is still a military regime with an appalling record of human rights abuses and judicial murder, and an occupying army in Tibet."

Scottish Greens were however disappointed that the First Minister has yet to raise the issue of climate change on his trip.[2]

Ballance added: "Today we have worrying new evidence that the concentration of human pollution in the atmosphere is growing even faster than anticipated and it is vital that carbon emissions are reduced worldwide. In Scotland, our record is poor, with carbon emissions on the way up. The dramatic growth of the economy across China is also a matter of global significance for the future state of the environment, especially if based on carbon or nuclear based energy. I hope McConnell raises climate change, although any encouragement to reduce carbon emissions will sound a little hollow considering Scotland's record and the failure of current Executive policies."



[1] Mr McConnell met with Mr Zhang Yesui today, the Foreign Affairs Minister responsible for relationships with Europe. During this meeting, Mr McConnell apparently raised the issue of human rights

[2] Measurements of CO2 in the atmosphere have been continuous for almost 50 years at Mauna Loa Observatory, 12,000ft up a mountain in Hawaii. In recent decades CO2 increased on average by 1.5 parts per million (ppm) a year because of the amount of oil, coal and gas burnt, but according to scientists at the Observatory this has now jumped to more than 2 ppm in 2002 and 2003


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