Swiss decision angers China

• Source: Global Times
• [09:06 February 05 2010]
• Comments

Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu expressed China's opposition during negotiations for a free trade pact with Switzerland.

By Yu Miao

Switzerland's decision to accept two Uyghur detainees to be released from the US military prison in Guantanamo Bay will hurt Sino-Swiss relations, China's Foreign Ministry said Thursday.

China had expressed its opposition during negotiations for a free trade pact with Switzerland, ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said.

"Such a decision will certainly affect Sino-Swiss relations," Ma said, adding that the seven Uyghurs held in Guantanamo were members of the East Turkistan Islamic Movement, listed as a terrorist group by the UN Security Council.

"All countries must adhere to UN Charter chapter 7 and reject providing asylum to those who fund, plan, commit or abet a terrorist act," Ma added.

The Swiss Justice Ministry said Wednesday in a statement that the decision was made on humanitarian grounds, adding that it had examined questions surrounding security and the integration of the pair, as well as their health, and found that there was "no problem."

However, Feng Zhongping, director of the European Studies Center at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, said that the humanitarian excuse is too vague to cover lots of concerns.

"Sino-Swiss relations will definitely be hindered by this decision," Feng told the Global Times. "China has enough evidence to prove those detainees' crime against Chinese people. The UN Security Council also has blacklisted them. However, the Swiss government made the decision all on their own examinations, without consideration of China's concerns and the world anti-terrorism operation. Their humanitarian gesture to terrorists is anti-humanitarian to the Chinese people and other nationals threatened by terrorism."

"Switzerland is outside the EU and NATO. I really don't understand why they made such a decision. Maybe they just have different opinions on anti-terrorism from China," Feng added.

Meanwhile, Swiss Justice Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf said Switzerland was aware of China's concerns.

"We have a stable, good relationship with China, which we will continue to nurture," Widmer-Schlumpf told journalists, adding that it was the same as with the US. "We made our decision taking into account the humanitarian tradition ... and therefore not for one or another country, rather, for our tradition that we have held high for hundreds of years."

The Uyghur brothers were ready to learn the languages spoken in Switzerland and had expressed willingness to work, she added.

However, Shen Jiru, director of the International Strategy Study Center at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, questioned the Swiss government's neutrality in making that decision.