China ratifies key UN treaty

The Chinese parliament has ratified a key United Nations human rights covenant on economic and social rights.

However the Chinese news agency Xinhua suggests that Beijing will not adopt several parts of the convention, including the right to form trade unions and the right to strike.

Current Chinese law allow only membership of the state-controlled All-China Federation of Trade Unions.

The BBC Beijing correspondent says China's leaders fear that relaxing labour laws would lead to chaos. Labour unrest has dramatically increased recently as millions of Chinese industrial workers have been laid off from state-run firms.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service