China has criticized a Spanish court’s decision to order the arrest of five former Chinese leaders accused of involvement in “genocidal” policies in Tibet.
At a Wednesday briefing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said Beijing wants a “clarification” of the court decision from the Spanish government. He said that if reports of the Spanish National Court ruling are correct, China is “strongly displeased” with what it called the court’s “repeated manipulation” of the Tibet issue.
Hong said the Spanish government should “change” the court decision and repair “severe damage” to China-Spain relations. He also urged Madrid to refrain from sending “wrong signals” to Tibetan forces.
In Monday’s ruling, distributed to the media a day later, the Spanish National Court called for the arrest of former Chinese President Jiang Zemin and four other officials who held senior roles in the 1980s and 1990s.
The Associated Press quoted a Spanish Foreign Ministry spokeswoman as saying Madrid has no comment on China’s reaction because the case is a judicial matter.
A group of Spain-based activists who support Tibetan rights initiated the “genocide” case against the five Chinese officials.
The activists filed the lawsuit in Spain under the country’s universal jurisdiction system, which allows Spanish courts to prosecute alleged war crimes and genocide committed anywhere, provided the victims include Spaniards.
