Beijing, August 30:

China today insisted it should be allowed to handle human rights issues in its own way, as the UN pressed it and other Asia-Pacific nations to ratify relevant international agreements. China is regularly rapped by rights groups for its deprivation of civil liberties and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour is in Beijing to urge it to accept the UN Convention on Civil and Political Rights.

But Tang Jiaxuan, a State Councillor and former foreign minister, said at the Asia-Pacific Human Rights Symposium being held here that every country should be allowed to deal with the matter in its own way. “On the one hand, we should uphold the purposes and principles enshrined in the UN Charter and international human rights instruments, and unswervingly promote and protect human rights to meet the fundamental interests of the people,” he said.