China has told Sri Lanka that it should "make efforts to protect and promote human rights", during a media briefing earlier today, PTI reports.
Foreign ministry spokesperson Qin Gang was responding to a question on the Commonwealth summit, human rights and British Premier David Cameron’s pledge to push for an international investigation through the UN Human Rights Council, if Sri Lanka doesn’t complete an independent, credible inquiry by March.
"Due to the differences in the economic and social development of different countries, there could be differences on human rights protection," Qin said.
"So what is important is that the relevant country should make efforts to protect and promote human rights while other countries in the world should provide constructive assistance,
“This is an issue within the Commonwealth. But at the same time, I believe that on the human rights issue, dialogue and communication should be enhanced among countries,"
"We always maintained that on the human rights issues, countries around the world should enhance mutual understanding through dialogue and communication and take constructive means to promote the development on the international human rights cause," he said.