Excerpts of Media Reports on The U.N. Official's Visit of China

Reuters: U.N. Human Rights Chief Says China Getting Worse
By Jeremy Page, Thursday March 2

"U.N. rights chief Mary Robinson bluntly criticized Beijing Thursday over what she called a deterioration in China's human rights record."

"I am concerned about three areas that I have expressed my worries about -- the areas of freedom of expression, freedom of religion, and freedom of association,'' she said.

"My major concern is that there does seem to have been a deterioration,'' she told a news conference.

Robinson said she had raised the issue of Falun Gong and individual human rights cases...

"There has been a notable clampdown on religious expression,'' she said.

AP Newswires: U.N. rights chief cites deterioration in China's rights record
By ELAINE KURTENBACH, 03/02/2000
 
"Chinese leaders hoped to use Robinson's visit to mute foreign critics. But her visit appeared likely to bring Beijing more bad publicity as the United States seeks to censure China at the upcoming meeting of the U.N. Human Rights Commission, scheduled to begin March 20 in Geneva."

"As Robinson met with Chinese officials, human rights groups urged the United Nations to set up an office in China to investigate allegations of abuses, such as the report this week that police had beaten to death a 60-year-old member of the banned Falun Gong spiritual group - a report the Chinese government denied."

"Robinson said she had raised concerns over China's treatment of Falun Gong members, but indicated that the Chinese side was not receptive to criticism on the issue. 'It's clear that there is a very strong and I would say defensive reaction on this issue,' she said."

BBC: China's rights record criticized
Thursday, 2 March, 2000

 "She criticized Beijing's record of imposing long sentences on pro-democracy activists and its ban on the Falun Gong spiritual movement."

"She also voiced concerns over the suppression of the Falun Gong spiritual movement - which is now banned - as evidence of human rights abuses in China."

"She also called on China to ratify two international treaties on human rights which China signed in 1998."

The New York Times: High U.N. Official Sees Loss of Rights in China
By ERIK ECKHOLM, 03/03/2000, Page 11, Column 1

 "She gave her assessment less than three weeks before the annual session of the United Nations Human Rights Commission, starting on March 20 in Geneva, where the United States plans to offer a resolution to censure China's rights record. Ms. Robinson declined to comment on the resolution. Her remarks here may bolster the American case. But the resolution has little chance of passing, diplomats said, because China can muster a majority of countries to oppose it as unwarranted meddling in its internal affairs."

"In meetings today with Deputy Prime Minister Qian Qichen and other officials, Ms. Robinson presented her concerns about developments over the last year and a half. Those included the arrests and lengthy prison sentences given to democracy advocates, what Ms. Robinson termed ''a notable clampdown on religious expression,'' and the repression of labor organizers and the Falun Gong spiritual movement."

"Ms. Robinson had hoped for agreement this week on a long-discussed program of technical cooperation with China, to study how its laws and criminal practices can be brought into compliance with the two international rights covenants that China has signed but not ratified."