ROW ERUPTS OVER FRANCE-CHINA EXTRADITION TREATY

rights groups raised a chorus of alarm over French plans to sign an extradition treaty with China, despite the Asian giant's dismal record on prisoners' rights and widespread use of the death penalty. France's Justice Minister Pascal Clement arrived on Jan. 4 in Beijing for a four-day visit on which he was to put the seal on the treaty, to be signed in Paris later in the month during a visit by his Chinese counterpart Wu Aiying.
Amnesty International France urged Paris not to ratify the text, due to "continuing reports of serious violations in China, including the use of the death penalty and abusive forms of arbitrary detention, torture and cruel, inhumane and degrading treatments."
A day earlier, the Paris-based League of Human Rights (LDH) and the International Federation of Human Rights Leagues (FIDH) issued a joint appeal to the French parliament to block the treaty's adoption.
"The commercial interests of France do not justify the slightest leniency towards China," they said in a joint statement, describing China's penal system as "notorious for being one of the worst in existence".