Europeans 'condescending' in human rights issues: China

(GODOLLO) - China accused Europe of "condescending" behaviour toward Beijing at EU-China talks Thursday and refused to disclose the whereabouts of detained Chinese artist Ai Weiwei.

"You need to trust the judicial process... It is condescending of Europeans to tell China that some people are beyond the law," Fu Ying, China's vice foreign minister, said after a meeting between China's top foreign affairs official Dai Bingguo and EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton.

"We discussed the human rights situation in China and I had the opportunity to set out the EU position", Ashton said.

The Chinese government is under growing pressure to free the artist taken into custody in the beginning of April as he tried to board a plane from Beijing to Hong Kong.

The Chinese government earlier said Ai, who had angered authorities with his involvement in campaigns criticising the ruling Communist Party, was detained on suspicion of "economic crimes" but has provided no evidence, details or access to the accused.

The EU and China are set to continue talks on human rights issues in the middle of June, Dai said.