EL PAÍS/Analysis by José Elías Esteve: The 'kowtow' before the new emperor of China

centuries ago, in times of flourishing Empires of the Center, representatives of the missions were required barbarians (this is, to diplomats from foreign countries, among other subjects), kneeling three times and even prostrating up to nine times touching the head to the ground, while the chinese emperor, the Son of Heaven, remained undaunted atop the throne. This protocol of solemn reverence to the supreme celestial power, known as thekowtow, had to be carried out in order to maintain friendly diplomatic and commercial relations with the Beijing Empire. What was basically intended with this Confucian court ritual was to show public respect and submission to the superior., this is, openly recognize the hierarchical rank of the emperor with respect to subjects or vassals.

The current turbulent times, among its numerous and pernicious effects, They seem to have rescued this embarrassing ritual, typical of the exotic Far East label. In any case, The differences are more than subtle and now the new kowtow The Spanish government has executed it before the new leaders of Beijing, that instead of the divine throne, They sit in the plush armchairs of the Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party, while they hoard million-dollar fortunes in tax havens that clandestinely escape the law and the Maoist utopia. In any case, This first return to past imperial times has turned out to be a matter of urgent necessity., since the economic interests and the Spanish debt in the hands of the new eastern masters had to be safeguarded, as our Foreign Minister has openly acknowledged, Garcia Margallo.

Specifically the kowtow began to be staged publicly and manifestly, he 17 of January of 2014 when the spokesperson of the Popular Parliamentary Group, Alfonso Alonso, presented in the Congress of Deputies, the proposal to modify the Organic Law 6/1985, of 1 July, of the Judiciary, concerning universal justice. As so many other times, international regulations were invoked to attack the most basic values ​​and principles of this same International Law.. In the same explanatory statement, a quantum leap has been made to the most ancient past, obsolete and outdated international law, situated in the times when human rights were reserved domain of the States. In this way, there has been no hesitation in resorting to international treaties and the commitments signed in Rome that originated the current International Criminal Court., to end decades of a tireless fight against impunity that had been initiated as a last resort by different victims of forgotten and ignored international crimes. In effect, universal jurisdiction was being the only lifeline to hold on to and initiate cases against aberrant international crimes that had failed to obtain effective protection guarantees., nor through the different conventional and extra-conventional international systems of the United Nations, nor of the regional human rights courts and much less before a very diminished International Criminal Court.

So, when the first steps of a new globalization of justice were beginning to be taken that was making it possible to combat intolerable black holes in the international sphere and that targeted the top leaders of some of the countries with the right of veto in the Security Council, political alarms began to go off.

And it is at this point that it is decided to give a second big jump, but not forward as the Great Helmsman did, but backwards, towards a past, that seemed to have already been overcome. In effect, with this new law we have returned to outdated times in order to rescue the principle of non-interference in internal affairs, and thus safeguard and protect political and military officials, that in addition to being genocidal and torturers, They are, above all, first-class business partners.. And the Chinese leaders have come to the aid; weeks after the approval of the universal justice reform, the Tibet and Falun Gong cases directed against the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party, were archived by the Plenary Session of the Criminal Chamber of the National Court, with the approval of the prosecutor's office, although with the dissenting vote of five magistrates.

The political favor for the closure of the judicial investigation had to be rewarded. In this way to collect the favor, Rajoy on his official visit to Beijing, accompanied by the CEOE, must stage the last and submissive prostration of the ritual of kowtow, and once again will have to kneel before the powers that be in China, without ever losing sight of the interests of large corporations. But of course, the defense of the Spain Brand It seems to imply this humiliating servility.

Europe and Spain are in a crisis situation, but the economic recession is not the main factor, nor its original cause. The crisis is deeply rooted in the disintegration of supposed European identity values (those of the article 2 of the Treaty of Lisbon), that should actually be an international reference. If democracy and human rights in Europe bow before autocratic and corrupt powers like those of the current regime in China, In order to save our public debts and the million-dollar investments of transnational companies, more misery is inevitably being generated.; social misery, legal and even ethics.

José Elias Esteve Moltó He is a professor of Public International Law and Secretary of the Institute of Human Rights of the University of Valencia.. It is the editor and researcher of the Tibet complaints presented at the National Court.