The Chinese government has roundly rejected criticisms leveled by the European Union (EU) against a series of televised broadcasts of confessions made by Chinese and European citizens.

The EU delegation to China on Friday issued a strongly worded statement against Beijing's policy of publicizing confessions made by people accused of various transgressions. 

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The statement specifically mentions the case of Swedish NGO-worker Peter Dahlin, who Chinese authorities took into custody last month on suspicion of acts detrimental to the country's national security.

"We firmly oppose foreign delegations making statements with irresponsible criticism about China's handling of judicial matters," said Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying when asked by the press to comment on the statement.

Detentions and Expulsions

Dahlin was arrested early in January on his way to Beijing's international airport, becoming the first foreigner to be entangled in a crackdown that has drawn censure from the governments of the US, Hong Kong and a number of countries in Europe. 

Chinese authorities released the Swedish national from detention some 20 days after his arrest, having earlier agreed to a televised confession of his misdeeds. 

The issue has seen the EU step up its increasingly vocal bashing of the Chinese government's treatment of Europeans in China. 

The EU's chief representative to the country, Hans Dietmar Schweisgut, had earlier expressed concern over Beijing's recent detentions and expulsions of European citizens.

"Unacceptable"

"We do hope it's not representing the new normal yet," the New York Times quotes Schweisgut saying on January 20.  "But we do see an extremely worrying trend, and that's why all these cases are taken extremely seriously."

Two days later, the EU's chief spokesperson Margaritas Schinas issued a more sternly worded rebuke of China's judicial policies, and called into question China's commitment to the rule of law.

"The EU is also concerned by the recent broadcasting of confessions made by EU citizens," Schinas said in a statement published by the 28-member European bloc's website, Europa.

On Friday, the EU delegation to China published a statement containing what some analysts have said is some of the organization's most scathing condemnation so far of the Chinese legal system, saying the public broadcasting of confessions made by Chinese and European citizens is "unacceptable."

TagsEuropean Union, China-EU relations, Peter Dahlin