Human rights warning for Apec leaders

Chinas want support against its own domestic unrest

Chinese dissidents have called on world leaders meeting in Shanghai to stop Beijing from using the war on terrorism as an excuse for suppressing human rights.

In a letter to US President George Bush, two dissidents, Wan Dan and Wang Juntao, urged him not to abandon efforts to promote human rights.

The two dissidents were jailed for leading the pro-democracy demonstrations in Tiananmen Square in 1989 and now live in exile in the United States.

They fear Mr Bush will avoid talking about human rights as he seeks China's support for the military action in Afghanistan.

The US should not "succumb to fear of terrorism and abandon its efforts to promote human rights and freedom", said their letter, which was released by the Hong Kong-based Information Centre for Human Rights and Democracy.

It cited China's "large-scale crackdowns on numerous dissident groups and religious organisations".

Separatists

In a letter to all the Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation (Apec) leaders, a third dissident, Shen Lianggi, who still lives in China, said Beijing was using the fight against terrorism as "a pretext to increase oppression of political dissent and to trample on human rights".

His letter was released by the New-York based Human Rights in China group.

China is seeking US support for its fight against Muslim separatists in the north-western province of Xinjiang. It says militants fighting for a separate state of East Turkestan have carried out bombings and are linked to international terrorists.

Amnesty International says five ethnic-Uighur people from the region were sentenced to death this week for "anti-state separatism". It is concerned at what it calls "China's repression of Muslim ethnic groups".