U.S. Sees Chance for Debate on China Rights

Reuters: Monday March 20

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States said on Monday that the mood in the U.N. Human Rights Commission has shifted against China in the past year, creating the best chance in years for a vote on China's human rights record.

Every year since 1995 China has managed to head off critical resolutions in the commission by winning the vote on a ''no-action motion'', which prevents debate on the resolution.

Diplomats in Geneva said on Sunday they expected China to marshal enough votes again this year to preempt discussion.

But the top U.S. official on human rights, Assistant Secretary of State Harold Koh, said on Monday that China may well fail to secure the no-action motion this time.

``We believe that now there is a very significant possibility that a no-action motion can be defeated,'' he told a briefing in Washington, shortly after the annual meeting of the commission opened in Geneva.

``Therefore there will be, in our expectation and hope, a vote on the merits of China's human rights conduct in late April,'' added Koh, who will take part in the commission.

The official said it was ``the best chance since 1995'' to defeat the no-action motion because some members of the 53-nation commission had changed their views on China.

``Most of the countries who voted for it in the past have indicated that ... they see no reason to change their view. Other countries, troubled by the deteriorating human rights conditions, have expressed more receptivity to the idea of voting against the no-action motion,'' he said.

The human rights resolution adds to the complex mix of relations between Beijing and Washington, which are at odds over Chinese threats to Taiwan, which it regards as a rebel province.

The Clinton administration is trying hard, however, to keep human rights and Taiwan out of the current congressional debate on whether to give China permanent normal trade relations in exchange for Beijing opening its markets.

The United States has prepared a resolution critical of China and has already circulated it some countries in Geneva.

In its annual human rights report, released in February, it said China's record worsened noticeably in 1999 as authorities hit at the China Democracy Party, the Falun Gong spiritual movement, the media and unregistered churches.

``Beginning in the spring, Communist Party leaders moved quickly to suppress what they believed to be organized challenges that threatened national stability and Communist Party authority,'' the report said.

By the end of 1999 almost all the key members of the fledgling opposition China Democracy Party were in jail, either serving long prison terms or in custody without formal charges. ''Only a handful of dissidents nationwide dared to remain active publicly,'' the report added.

China attacked the report and on Monday it turned its ire on the U.N. plan to sponsor a resolution in Geneva.

State-run newspapers carried commentaries accusing Washington of interfering in China's internal affairs and ignoring its own human rights abuses. They said efforts to denounce Beijing at the U.N. commission were doomed.

Secretary of State Madeleine Albright will fly to Geneva to speak to the commission on Thursday and press the case for resolutions against China and Cuba.

``This is the first time a secretary of state has spoken to the Human Rights Commission in recent memory, and she will be traveling from India and then returning to India, which is a sign of the priority she gives to these issues,'' said Koh.

If the U.S. resolution passes, it will send a ``strong message'' to China of international concern about its human rights record, he added.

``My guess is that the Chinese are extremely concerned about the real prospects that the no-action motion will fail this year. There's been very intensified diplomatic activity on their front,'' he said.

On Cuba, the official said he expected Poland and the Czech Republic to sponsor a critical resolution, which the United would then support. Last year's resolution passed by one vote.