NEW YORK (Reuters) - A meeting on Thursday between the leaders of Cuba and China in Havana showed the two countries had a common agenda to suppress freedom of religion and other rights, Human Rights Watch charged.
The international rights group has frequently cited the communist governments of Chinese President Jiang Zemin (news - web sites) and Cuban President Fidel Castro (news - web sites) for alleged abuses and decries the two countries' right to vote on the 53-nation United Nations (news - web sites) Commission on Human Rights.
``The leaders of both countries have something in common that goes beyond trade and economic interests,'' Human Rights Watch said in a statement. ``Their human rights policies and governing practices are bankrupt in the eyes of the rest of the world.''
Jiang's April 5-17 visit to Latin America, including stops in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Cuba, Uruguay, and Venezuela, is seen in Beijing as a bid to help China's annual diplomatic fight to avoid U.N. human rights censure in Geneva.
Next week, the commission is scheduled to consider resolutions condemning alleged human rights abuses in both China and Cuba.
``In Cuba, President Jiang won't have to worry about Falun Gong (news - web sites) protesters, democracy advocates or Catholic Church clerics upset about state interference in religious affairs,'' Human Rights Watch said. ``Instead, he'll find a sympathetic ear in Fidel Castro: someone with a distressingly similar agenda on human rights.''
China has cracked down on Falun Gong, a movement whose practitioners combine meditation and exercise with a doctrine loosely rooted in Buddhist and Taoist teachings.
Human Rights Watch said in Cuba, the government maintains a high level of control over religious institutions. The group charges that Cuba denies the Catholic Church access to the media, limits the numbers of its clergy and bars it from operating schools.