Salt Lake Tribune: Human Rights Disputes Should Not Forestall Liberalizing Trade With China (excerpt)

According to Salt Lake Tribune (May 23), "the anti-WTO forces in America who are complaining that China's human rights record is growing worse and worse are, unfortunately, all too right in their analysis."

It says, "Beijing's behavior becomes more and more abominable. The country's leaders are even so frightened by the unarmed, [spiritual movement of] Falun Gong (because of the communist certainty that any alternative source of commitment must be destroyed) that it is carting away the [movement's] adherents all over the country as they appear in the morning air doing their mysterious exercises."

"On all levels, human rights conditions in China have actually deteriorated to a marked extent, particularly since President Clinton's "friendship" journey to China in l998. And the same syndrome plays itself out these days under Chinese rule in Hong Kong, where press freedom and the rule of law have been steadily eroding."