RIGHTS: Rights Groups Furious at U.S. Stance on China

By Jim Lobe Reprint | | Print |

Jim Lobe

WASHINGTON, Mar 17 1998 (IPS) - U.S. human rights groups have rounded on the administration of US President Bill Clinton for backing away from a resolution criticising China at the U.N. Human Rights Commission’s annual session in Geneva.

Activists denounced the administration’s decision announced Monday which they said marked the final abandonment of an eight- year U.S. quest to draw international attention to China’s human rights performance.

“It shows that when a country is large enough or an attractive enough market, the United States and other governments are willing to walk away from multilateral consideration of that country’s human rights practices,” said Abigail Abrush, who heads the Asia programme at the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Centre for Human Rights here.

The decision follows a similar announcement by the European Union (EU), many of whose members had also backed resolutions censuring China after Beijing’s violent crackdown against its “pro-democracy” movement in 1989.

Last year, however, EU unity on the issue broke down when France, Germany, Italy and Spain opposed a US-backed resolution which was put forward by Denmark and strongly supported by the Netherlands.

Earlier this month in announcing this year’s EU decision against backing any resolution, British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook insisted that Beijing had “shown some progress” in its performance during 1997 – including the release from prison of long-time dissident Wei Jingsheng.

Wei, who denounced the EU’s position, emtered exile in the United States last November.

State Department spokesman James Rubin Monday also cited Wei’s release, as well as four other steps recently taken by Beijing, as justifying Clinton’s decision. He noted that China last week announced that it would sign the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, as it promised to sign the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights last year.

He also cited Beijing’s cooperation with the U.N. Arbitrary Detention Working Group, which visited Tibet and Chinese prisons last year, and its agreement to create a US-China NGO (non- governmental organisation) forum for the discussion of human rights issues.

In addition, he said, Washington is hoping that China will soon release more prominent political prisoners. Senior US officials told reporters that such releases, including that of former pro- democracy leader Wang Dan, were imminent, particularly after Clinton decided last week to move up his summit meeting with President Jiang Zemin from next Fall to June.

“Let me emphasise (that) our decision not to go forward with the resolution does not mean that we accept that China’s human rights record is satisfactory,” Rubin said. “We will continue to speak out publicly about that record, including at the U.N. Human Rights Commission in Geneva. (But) we believe they are moving foward to bring China more into the fold on human rights principles, and we clearly have seen progress in this area.”

Activists disputed that assessment, and insist that the U.S. decision reduced leverage on Beijing to improve its human rights without receiving anything substantial in return.

“China has shown itself to be exquisitely sensitive to criticism within the Human Rights Commission,” noted Mike Jendrzejczyk, Washington director of Human Rights Watch/Asia.

“Take away any threat of the U.S. backing a new resolution and what incentive will China have to follow through on its promise to sign, ratify and implement the international covenants, release more political prisoners, or implement the recommendations of the (Arbitrary Detention) Working Group?”

China’s human rights record has been a major source of contention here since the 1989 crackdown. Indeed, Clinton himself ran against then-president George Bush in 1992 on a platform that promised a much tougher policy, including denying trade benefits to China if its rights performance did not substantially improve.

After one year in office, and under heavy pressure from business interests, Clinton abruptly reversed policy and began a process called “comprehensive engagement” of China’s leadership. To reassure Congress and rights activitists that he was not abandoning them, however, Clinton pledged to take a number of steps on the human rights front, including pressing Beijing on its human rights peformance in multilateral forums, especially the UN Commission.

This effort reached its high-water mark in 1994 when Washington and the EU succeeded for the first time in bringing a resolution on China’s to a formal vote. While it ultimately failed 20-21, the effort was seen as a major breakthrough by most activists. But the EU’s split in 1997 and its decision not to back a resolution this year fatally weakened those forces in the administration – centred in the State Department – which favoured one.

Ironically, according to some activists, the decision could backfire against the administration in Congress. Last week, the Senate overwhelmingly approved a statement condemning the EU for not backing a resolution and calling for Clinton to support one. A similar statement, possibly condemning the administration’s decision as well, is expected to pass the House of Representatives this week.

Congressional disapproval may also have an impact on the annual Congressional debate on China’s trade status in May, just before Clinton’s scheduled trip to Beijing.

“The stark abandonment of one of the last pieces of US human rights policy towards China will definitely energise the debate,” Abrush believed. She noted that labour groups this year are joining a coalition of human rights and Christian Right groups which tried unsuccessfully last year to persuade Congress to re- link China’s trade status to its human rights performance.

In the meantime, rights groups expressed their frustration over the administration’s decision. In one statement, Amnesty International USA expressed concern that China’s agreement to sign the UN human rights covenants amounted to a “public relations stunt that buys time for the regime to continue to violate rights with impunity.” Others notde that ratification could take months, if not years.

Abrush also characterised as “ironic” the State Department’s praise for China’s cooperation with the UN Working Group and release of Wei. Wei, who is currently travelling in Europe, had himself strongly urged that a critical resolution be pursued, while China succeeded last year in greatly reducing the Working Group’s mandate, she said.