ABSTRACT
This chapter explores how the EU-China Human Rights Dialogue proceeded between 1998 and 1999, how Chinese diplomats reacted to the EU's repeated call for concrete results and how the EU answered a new wave of political repression in China. Nash's statement contained the implicit threat that the EU could in the future return to introducing a China resolution at the UN Commission on Human Rights. The head of the Chinese delegation, Li Baodong, explained that prisoners could be released on medical grounds and that Wang Dan could possibly benefit from such an exception. The programme aimed to establish a micro-credit system and assist school drop-outs in poor families. During the Dialogue, the EU proposed adding a human rights component by including a project on legal awareness specifically targeting women. On the issue of Tibet, Christian Strohal briefed the Chinese delegation that EU member states had recently agreed on common guidelines for their Tibet policy.
