I would like to express my pleasure to participate for the first time in ASEP, and even more so since this meeting takes place in Beijing, China - a country and a civilization which I deeply admire.

We represent different civilizations and diverse cultures from Asia and Europa - but our humanity is only one. And that regardless of religion, as our Indonesian colleague so rightly pointed out, with the example of his country, which is the best disproof of the Huntington prophecy of a "clash of civilizations".
Human rights are inherent to our humanity, part of our common values and obligations, under the UN Charter and other major international instruments.
Human rights are also what people anywhere, in Europe and in Asia, want to enjoy and see respected, be it their political, civil, social, cultural or economic rights. And, therefore, no real intercultural dialogue will develop if human rights are neglected.
We at the European Parliament care and are vigilant about human rights - in Europe and elsewhere.

That is why we have been trying to uncover the full truth about Guantanamo, the secret prisons, the extraordinary renditions and other unconscionable methods used by the Bush Administration in the so-called "war on terror". And we are urging our European governments to take responsibility for their collaboration in the gross human rights violations involved in such practices.
Let me stress that we absolutely reject the argument that all that is necessary to fight terrorism - not only those human rights violations are indeed a victory for those who fight democracy and the rule of law, but actually they only provide more recruits and pretexts to the terrorists.

This morning we heard HE Mr. Wu Banghuo speak about what had made China respond so exemplarily to the tragedy in Sichuan - and I want to express my profound sympathy to the victims, relatives of the deceased and all the Chinese people. Hon. Wu stressed that it was the government by the people and for the people, in China, that made it possible.

Of course all sorts of governments, anywhere, claim that they govern for the people. And it is our job, as parliamentarians elected by the people, to make sure that they do, indeed. Not forgetting that "the people" is made of persons who should have their basic human rights respected by governments and states.

Here in China, as much as in Europe and throughout Asia, people care about human rights - you just have to read the "China Daily" of the last two days, as I did, and see how readers writing letters about Tibet are invoking human rights for the role they believe that China played to liberate Tibet from serfdom, while expressing their dismay at the demonstrations of support worldwide for the claims of the Tibetans.
We in the European Parliament hope China will solve the problems of the human rights of the Tibetans, namely respect for their cultural identity as a people, through dialogue and peacefully, and that repression in Tibet will stop.
As we hope also to see China address the serious human rights problems elsewhere: from making all companies, foreign and Chinese, respect core labour rights of their Chinese workers, to enacting the freedom of expression for all citizens.

And so many people are imprisoned in China because they lack that basic freedom. I will just name two: Mr. Hu Jia, who was jailed after speaking to us in the EP last November, through video conference. And a protestant Pastor who was arrested yesterday, on his way to a meeting with a member of our delegation.

We also want the Olympic Games in Beijing to be a great success for China and for the whole world, but that requires that the Chinese authorities will live up to the commitments they gave to improve human rights, when they were entrusted with the task to organize these Games. Any more repressive measures will have a negative impact, worldwide. Here in Beijing we should not forget that human rights are being violated, in a most brutal way and dramatic scale, in a neighbouring Asian country, which also was recently hit by a merciless catastrophe.
In Burma/Myanmar the action of the authorities contrasts blatantly with the prompt response of the Chinese government to the devastating Sichuan earthquake. Delays and obstruction for international assistance to reach the victims is increasing their misery and making thousands more die.

We in the European Parliament adopted a resolution proposing that the Myanmar authorities should be referred by the UN Security Council to the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity if they continue to obstruct aid to reach the victims.

We hope China, EU members and all those other countries who seat in the UNSC, will uphold their responsibilities regarding Burma, a country where the people are oppressed by illegitimate rulers.

We are all human beings, whether Europeans or Asians. We all want to live in a better world, regulated by a more effective multilateralism and where the benefits of globalization will be shared by all. A world where peace, justice, human security, tolerance and dialogue will be a reality amongst our diverse cultures and civilizations. We, as elected parliamentarians, have a major responsibility to work for that better world.