China Will Protect Legitimate Rights of Detained Indians: Official
China has said that it will protect ‘legitimate rights’ of 21 Indians detained for allegedly smuggling diamonds, said reports.
Talking to media persons in Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said that the case was under investigation and that she believed that the legitimate rights and interests of those involved would be guaranteed according to law, reports said.
Her remarks are first public statement made by any Chinese official following arrest of 50 people in the southern city of Shenzhen on smuggling charges. Of these 50, 33 were foreigners, including 21 Indians.
“Chinese police detained some Indians suspected of smuggling,” Jiang was quoted as saying by the official Xinhua news agency.
He was asked to confirm whether the police in Shenzhen had nabbed 21 Indian diamond traders, the report said.
The detained Indians are suspected of being involved in illegal transportation of diamonds from Hong Kong to Shenzhen, a boom city in south China’s Guangdong Province.
“The Indian embassy in China has dispatched officials to see them,” Jiang said, without giving the number of detainees or their identities.
According to Indian government, two officials from its missions in China met the detainees one by one. Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao said that the people, detained on January 8, are being ‘apparently well looked after’. The Indian mission is helping them and arranging legal assistance for them, she said.
Meanwhile, commenting on the arrest of three Chinese engineers in India, Jiang said the Chinese Foreign Ministry and its embassy in New Delhi would actively assist their employer, the Shandong Electric Power Construction Corporation (SEPCO), in dealing with the prosecution and protect the legitimate rights and interests of its citizens.
The three were arrested in connection with a chimney collapse that killed more than 40 people at a power plant in Chhattisgarh in September, 2009.
(Based on internet reports)
