Christian Solidarity Worldwide has called on China to resume the UK-China Human Rights Dialogue, as it expressed its concern for a missing human rights lawyer and church leaders facing jail in Shanxi.

A meeting had been due to take place on Monday between the UK Foreign Office and the Chinese Ministry for Foreign Affairs but was postponed at the last minute by China.

The move jeopardises the dialogue which has been in place between the UK and China since 1997. It is thought to be a rebuff of the UK after it criticised China for executing 53-year-old British national Akmal Shaikh last month.

Shaikh, who was found guilty of smuggling four kilograms of heroin into China, was put to death by lethal injection just after Christmas despite numerous petitions by the British Government and pleas from Shaikh’s family for a mental health assessment.

Just days before his execution, there was outcry from the West when China sentenced leading dissident Liu Xiaobo for 11 years for “inciting subversion of state power”. He was the author of the Charter 08 document calling for greater democracy and respect for human rights in China.

CSW expressed its disappointment at China’s decision to delay the talks, saying the meeting would have provided an opportunity for frank discussion between the two sides on the subject of human rights.

It criticised China’s decision to sentence an Uyghur Christian to 15 years in jail and expressed concern for 10 church leaders facing jail in Shanxi province, as well as missing human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng.

Alexa Papadouris, CSW’s Advocacy Director said: “We call for the Chinese to resume the UK-China Human Rights Dialogue as soon as possible and keep to their commitment to utilise this mechanism to discuss difficult issues.

“CSW also calls on the Chinese government to release Gao Zhisheng, Alimujiang Yimiti and the Fushan church leaders who are representative of many other cases of repression.”

This year, China ranked thirteenth on the Open Doors World Watchlist 2010 published this week, ranking the 50 countries where the worst persecution of Christians has occurred in the past year. The list was topped by North Korea.