「恥ずべき沈黙」と非難 国連総長「中国人権問題」に弱腰
産経新聞 11月5日(金)7時57分配信
【ニューヨーク＝松尾理也】これまでも折に触れ噴出してきた潘基文国連事務総長への批判が、再び燃えさかっている。今回の原因は、中国の民主活動家、劉暁波氏へのノーベル平和賞授与決定を機にあらわになった中国の人権問題に対する、露骨なまでの弱腰だ。
３日付の米紙ニューヨーク・タイムズ社説は、中国訪問中の潘氏が北京で胡錦濤国家主席と会談した際、劉氏に対する弾圧など同国の人権問題について触れなかったことを取り上げ、「恥ずべき沈黙」と厳しく非難した。
同社説は「劉氏の問題はまさに国連事務総長としての潘氏の責任範囲にある」と指摘し、今後、対応が変わらなければ米国は潘氏の事務総長再選支持を考え直すべきだとした。
ニューヨークに本拠を置く人権監視団体「ヒューマン・ライツ・ウオッチ」のスポークスマンは、中国の人権問題に触れようとしない潘氏の態度を「ショッキングだ」と酷評。「ミャンマーの軍事政権に対しては（ノーベル平和賞受賞者である）アウン・サン・スー・チーさんの釈放を求めているのだから、中国政府に劉氏の釈放を求めるのは当然だろう」と述べた。
だが、潘氏の報道官は煮え切らない対応に終始し、３日の会見でも「批判に特段の対応はしない」と述べるにとどまった。
これほど神経質になる潘氏の意図を、「自らの事務総長再選をにらんだ中国への配慮」とする見方は、すでに推測の域を越えて共通理解となりつつある。安保理常任理事国の一つとして国連内に強大な権限を持つ中国の意向を損なえば、再選はおぼつかないからだ。
一方で、中国側の変化に原因を求める見方もある。ある西側外交筋は「国際社会で欧米との摩擦が顕著となるにつれ、国連外交の現場でも中国はこのところ、急激に内向きでかたくなな姿勢を強めている」と指摘。中国からの圧力の高まりが潘氏に影響を及ぼしていると分析している。
http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20101105-00000095-san-int
Editorial
Mr. Ban Pulls His Punches
Published: November 2, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/03/opinion/03wed2.html
In a meeting with President Hu Jintao of China in Beijing on Monday, the United Nations secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, discussed climate change and efforts to ease tensions on the Korean peninsula. Mr. Ban also nudged China to play a greater role in peacekeeping and in finding political solutions to conflicts in Sudan and Somalia.
He was shamefully silent on one critical issue: China’s poor human rights record and its unjustified imprisonment of Liu Xiaobo, the country’s leading democracy activist and this year’s winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.
Mr. Liu is serving an 11-year sentence for spurious subversion charges. Since the prize was awarded last month, China’s authoritarian government has put his wife under house arrest and increased its persecution of other democracy activists.
We have not heard an explanation from Mr. Ban for why he did not raise Mr. Liu’s case. When asked, his spokesman merely told reporters that “it is correct, he did not discuss human rights,” adding that there were “many topics on the agenda.” That is no explanation.
Mr. Liu, a 54-year-old scholar, writer, poet and social commentator, is an unfaltering advocate of peaceful political change. During the 1989 pro-democracy protest in Tiananmen Square, he staged a hunger strike, then negotiated a peaceful retreat of student demonstrators as thousands of soldiers stood by with rifles drawn. Since then, he has been harassed and repeatedly detained but has refused to be silenced.
Mr. Liu’s case and Beijing’s human rights record are within Mr. Ban’s purview and responsibilities. China signed the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights and should be held to those commitments.
Mr. Ban is expected to stand for a second term as secretary general next year. We hope Monday’s performance does not mean that he now plans to pull his punches on sensitive issues to curry favor with China or any other member of the Security Council.
Beijing is far too accustomed to throwing its weight around these days. Too many governments, companies and others are afraid to push back. One admirable exception: the Norwegian Nobel Committee, which ignored China’s warning not to give Mr. Liu the award. Instead, it commended Mr. Liu for “his long and nonviolent struggle for fundamental human rights in China” and reminded China’s leaders that its “new status must entail increased responsibility.”
We suggest Mr. Ban read the full award and then think hard about why he wants a second term. The United States, meanwhile, should think hard about whether it wants to support Mr. Ban’s re-election.
A version of this editorial appeared in print on November 3, 2010, on page A26 of the New York edition.
