united kingdom of hypocrisy - human rights and arms dealers

The Foreign Office yesterday criticised China for its "poor" human rights record in a report that included a scorecard on 21 "major countries of concern". However, the British government was accused of hypocrisy by campaign groups which said Britain continued to sell arms to most of the countries portrayed by the Foreign Office as the worst offenders in its annual report on human rights around the world. Activists also called on Gordon Brown to boycott the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics.

In the report, China was rebuked for its extensive use of execution, torture, detention without trial, the lack of an independent judiciary, and restrictions on religion. The report, written before the unrest in Tibet, also complains of widespread "violations" in the region. Launching the report, the foreign secretary, David Miliband, said global concern over China was "justified and proper". He said: "There needs to be mutual respect between all communities and sustained dialogue between the Dalai Lama and the Chinese authorities."

He also criticised Beijing over the case of Yang Chunlin - a land rights activist who was jailed for five years on Monday for "inciting subversion of state power". Miliband said "It is the passion of the British people for justice, and the determination of the media to reflect that concern in their coverage, that has propelled situations of people far away into every living room in Britain," - The foreign secretary added that protection of human rights was now an integral part of British diplomacy but the Foreign Office was taken to task yesterday by campaigning groups who said the government had failed to translate its concerns into hard-edged policy.