The European Union should take a tough stance to protest China's refusal to allow western officials to meet with members of the Falungong sect, a member of the ruling coalition in the Netherlands said Wednesday.
Dutch Foreign Minister Jozias van Aartsen cancelled a scheduled visit to Beijing and Hong Kong where the Dutch human rights envoy had planned to meet with 11 Chinese human rights activists including a representative of the Falungong sect.
The decision to scrap the visit came after Beijing pressured the Dutch government to cancel the February 12 meeting with the Chinese representatives, which was to be held in Hong Kong.
"I call on Mr. van Aartsen to get the European Union to adopt the same kind of stance," Social Democrat MP Bert Koenders told the ANP news agency.
The minister informed both the Swedish EU presidency and the European foreign affairs commissioner, Chris Patten, of his decision, the foreign ministry said.
Both the press and parliament commented favorably on the decision to cancel the visit, but the Dutch employers' organization expressed concern about possible repercussions on trade relations between China and the Netherlands.
China's official Xinhua news agency cited the Dutch government as saying the visit had been postponed "owing to a time factor."
But the foreign ministry in The Hague made clear late Tuesday that the visit was being cancelled due to pressure from Beijing.
"It is unthinkable that a part of the program would be suppressed under pressure from China," a foreign ministry spokesman said.
Dutch Human Rights Ambassador Renee Jones-Bos was to have met representatives of 11 organisations including the Falungong spiritual movement, which has been banned in mainland China but not in Hong Kong.
A government spokeswoman in Hong Kong said the cancellation was a matter concerning foreign affairs which fell within the jurisdiction of the central government in Beijing.
Falungong was banned by Beijing in July 1999 as an "evil cult" and the Communist leadership stepped up an already-intensive propaganda campaign against it after five alleged members tried to commit suicide by setting themselves on fire in Tiananmen Square last month.
A Falungong spokeswoman told AFP in Hong Kong: "We regret very much that a normal meeting for discussing human rights has been cancelled because of pressure from Beijing, because I think human rights should transcend national boundaries and races."