French President Emmanuel Macron should honor his pledge and call publicly for human rights improvements in meetings with President Xi Jinping and other Chinese leaders, Human Rights Watch said today in a letter to President Macron. He is visiting China for the first time as president from January 8-10, 2018.

“President Macron himself said that France’s diplomatic and economic imperatives with China ‘cannot justify cover-up of the question of human rights,’” said Bénédicte Jeannerod, France director at Human Rights Watch. “Macron needs to meaningfully follow through on that commitment with China’s leaders in Beijing.”

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