China Wants End to Spanish Judge’s Probe of Tibet Repression

Source: Latin American Herald Tribune

BEIJING – China on Thursday asked Spain not to encourage Tibetan separatist forces with acts like the request by a Spanish judge to question eight top Chinese officials about repression in Tibet in 2008.

“We urge the appropriate countries to respect international laws and the rules of diplomatic relations, and not to encourage separatist forces,” said a spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Ma Zhaoxu, upon being questioned at a press conference whether Beijing will permit the questioning of the eight officials.

“The incident of March 14 last year that took place in Lhasa (Tibet’s capital) is a serious criminal act of violence. The Chinese government has the right to treat it according to the law,” Ma added.

The spokesman limited himself to repeating this statement in response to subsequent questions about the Spanish investigation and he refused to comment on whether the judge’s request might hurt relations between Beijing and Madrid.


Read more: http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=334131&CategoryId=12395

It's a basic principle of international relations as embodied by the UN and other structures that national sovereignty is of paramount importance in state-to-state relations. Should China now launch a judicial inquiry into Spain's repression of the Basque separatists? It's pretty analogous actually: ETA in the Basque country, separatists in Tibet.

That said, I'm all for states staking out political positions on these questions and debate and criticism generally. But using the state power to potentially prosecute - that should be reserved for cases in which international aggression is involved. Both the Basque and Tibet questions are internal affairs of Spain and China, respectively.

Legal process may or may not go anywhere, but embarassing these tyrants in public is always a good thing.