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- Human Rights: Rhetoric And Reality
- What Clinton Must Do to Make China Accountable
- By Mike Jendrzejczyk
- Global Beat Issue Brief No. 38, June 22, 1998
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- Whether the United States can ever come to terms with China and forge
the "strategic partnership" the Clinton administration envisions
rests on one crucial issue: China's record on human rights.
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- Since its 1994 decision to "delink" human rights from China's
"most favored nation" trading status, the Clinton administration
has been struggling to find a credible way to address human rights. It
has yet to come up with an effective strategy that is clearly based on
principle and consistently carried out. Only such an approach has a chance
of being taken seriously - in Beijing or on Capitol Hill.
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- Instead, the White House has pressed for token gestures by China that
give the appearance of making progress, while overall human rights conditions
remain essentially unchanged: There has been some loosening of restrictions
of free speech and assembly, but overt challenges to Communist Party rule
are routinely suppressed.
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- Worker unrest is growing and the government has squelched any attempts
to organize independent trade unions. Repression of ethnic minorities in
Tibet and Xinjiang remains intense. Though officially sanctioned religious
groups are thriving, state controls on unofficial religious activity remain
in place. An anti-crime campaign, called "Strike Hard," has resulted
in hundreds of thousands of arbitrary arrests and thousands of executions.
Torture and ill-treatment in prisons and labor camps is widespread. Legal
reforms have instituted greater protections of defendants' rights, at least
on paper, and the elimination of some political crimes. But with the party
and the state firmly in control of the judicial system, China is a long
way from meeting international legal standards.
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- Despite this dismal record, in March the Clinton administration dropped
sponsorship of a critical resolution on China at the annual meeting of
the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in Geneva. Every year since
1990, the United States and other governments had pushed a China motion
in Geneva, triggering a worldwide lobbying effort by Beijing, anxious to
avoid U.N. censure and a loss of face. But when China agreed to release
Wang Dan and other dissidents, and promised to sign a key U.N. human rights
treaty, the administration backed off. Not only was Beijing let off the
hook, but the prospects of using the U.N. forum as an incentive to get
China to make more far-reaching human rights reforms are now virtually
nil.
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- The president says that summitry and high-level meetings offer a more
"practical" and productive route to encourage change than criticism,
and the outcome of the summit may reinforce his argument that "constructive
engagement" works. But if the visit is long on photo opportunities
but short on results, it will raise questions about a policy toward a China
that shrugs off virtually all forms of pressure. What can the president
realistically achieve at the summit?
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- It's important that Clinton speak out publicly about human rights while
he is in China. He should reconsider participating in an official welcoming
ceremony in Tiananmen Square, and he should meet with family members of
the victims of the 1989 massacre. Here are other things Clinton can do
to address human rights on his visit: Seek agreement to release or review
the sentences of some 2,000 persons imprisoned on vague charges of "counter-revolutionary
activities." Convince the Chinese government to grant unrestricted
access to Tibet and Xinjiang by foreign journalists and human rights monitors.
Persuade Chinese officials to review current regulations requiring all
religious bodies to register with the authorities. Press Beijing to protect
the rights of Chinese workers, including those seeking to exercise their
rights under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights (which China signed last October). Promote the lifting of restrictions
on Chinese citizens living abroad who have been blacklisted and forbidden
to return to China due to their pro-democracy activities; Seek a commitment
to end the system of re-education through labor.
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- U.S. relations with China have reached a critical point, but where
they go from here will depend, at least in part, on how successful the
White House can be in translating its rhetoric about human rights into
meaningful policy and action.
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- Mike Jendrzejczyk is the Washington director of Human Rights Watch,
Asia Division.
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- Contact Information:
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- Mike Jendrzejczyk
- Washington Representative
- Asia Watch
- 1522 K Street, NW, Suite 910
- Washington DC, 20005
- Phone: (202) 371 6592
- Fax: (202) 371 0124
- Email: jendrzm@hrw.org
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- This article was written for "The Challenge of China," a
project of MSNBC and the New York University Center for War, Peace, and
the News Media.
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- c. 1998, MSNBC and New York University's Center for War, Peace, and
the News Media. Contact the Center's Boston office for publication rights
(tel: 617-497-7377).
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