China Averts U.N. Human Rights Censure

Special to The Washington Post

Wednesday, April 19, 2000 ; A18

UNITED NATIONS, April 18 -- China today defeated a U.S. effort to censure it for human rights abuses, thwarting months of high-level lobbying of foreign governments by Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright and other senior U.S. officials.

Meeting in Geneva, the 53-member U.N. Human Rights Commission voted 22 to 18 in favor of a procedural motion, introduced by China, that blocked consideration of the U.S.-sponsored resolution criticizing Beijing.

The commission did, however, rebuke Cuba, Yugoslavia, Sudan, Iraq and Iran for their human rights records. To protest the resolution against Cuba, which was sponsored by Poland and the Czech Republic, 100,000 Cubans marched past the Czech Embassy in Havana in a state-organized demonstration.

This is the 10th straight year that China has sidestepped attempts to spotlight its treatment of political and religious dissidents. As in the past, Russia, Cuba, India, Pakistan, Indonesia and other developing nations rallied to China's support. The United States was backed by Canada, Japan and several European countries. Twelve nations abstained, and Romania's delegate, who had been expected to oppose Beijing, did not show for the vote.

While the U.N. commission has no power to impose sanctions, passage of the resolution would have embarrassed China, which has mounted a major diplomatic effort to prevent U.N. condemnation of its human rights practices since the bloody suppression of student democracy demonstrators in Beijing's Tiananmen Square in 1989. China's representative in Geneva, Qiao Zonghuai, accused the United States of an unwarranted diplomatic attack and an anti-Chinese political farce.

Harold Koh, the assistant secretary of state who heads the U.S. delegation in Geneva, said in a telephone interview that China's human rights record has been deteriorating since 1998, when the Beijing government released democracy activist Wang Dan from jail as a goodwill gesture on the eve of a U.S.-Chinese presidential summit.

Over the past year, Koh said, the Chinese government has undertaken a full-scale campaign to suppress the Falun Gong spiritual movement as well as cracking down on unregistered churches and ethnic minorities, especially Tibetans and Uighurs.

Despite today's setback, Koh argued that the Clinton administration had succeeded in raising awareness about China's abuses. He also noted that the number of countries voting against China has continued to rise, from 17 in 1999 to 18 this year.

Still, the outcome surprised U.S. diplomats, who had expressed optimism this morning that they could thwart China's maneuver, according to European diplomats in New York and Geneva.

Mike Jendrzejczyk, an Asia specialist at Human Rights Watch in Washington, said he was disappointed that President Clinton had not played a more active role in persuading U.S. allies to back the resolution. He noted that the only year in which the United States defeated China's effort to keep its human rights record off the U.N. commission's agenda was 1995, when Clinton and Vice President Gore telephoned world leaders to enlist their support.

Although the European Union voted today to oppose China's move, diplomats said EU members France, Belgium and Italy blocked moves to co-sponsor the U.S. resolution.

(c) 2000 The Washington Post Company