CHINA REBUFFS WEST ON ENDING DEATH PENALTY

China rejected calls from Western and some Latin American countries to end the death penalty and to agree to enforce a wide range of human rights. China's stance on these and related issues emerged in a final report from the United Nations Human Rights.
Recommendations on the death penalty included ending it and publishing more information on how it is applied and on the number of executions.
These came from not only Western states but also Argentina, Brazil and Mexico. China said that although it was sparing in applying capital punishment it could not abolish it "in current circumstances", on which it did not elaborate.