CHINA has won the support of African allies against linking international economic and political ties to human rights issues at the first Forum of Sino-African Cooperation in Beijing. “The politicisation of human rights and the imposition of human rights conditions on economic assisstance should be vigorously opposed as they constitute a violation of human rights,” the forum concluded. The Beijing declaration, signed by China and 44 African foreign ministers, echoed the Chinese leadership’s systematic condemnation of western “interferences” in human rights issues. China says it is ready to expand economic and trade ties with the African continent. – Own Correspondent