Houston Chronicle: China's Muscle / Politics over principle in Human Rights Commission

04/28/2001 No one should be surprised that practical politics usually come before principle in the United Nations. China's success last week in the U.N. Human Rights Commission in blocking a U.S. resolution condemning China's horrific human right's record is further evidence that China is a skilled player in the art of practical politics. China lined up the votes of its neighboring countries, including Russia, to beat the American resolution which condemned Beijing for its brutal treatment of the Falun Gong spiritual movement, government opponents and Tibetans. This strange coalition even included India and Pakistan, two nations normally engaged in a bitter border dispute and which are trying to outbuild each other in nuclear weapons. India and China have had their own border conflict. The practical politics involved in the vote was that China is powerful and growing more so. Everybody knows it. No neighboring country felt safe enough to uphold human rights principles and anger China's leaders or attract their wrath. The 53-nation U.N. Human Rights Commission supposedly is a watchdog over abuses and violations of human rights. But don't expect it to take on China, no matter how terrible Beijing's leaders behave. To do so could be dangerous and that would be politically impractical.