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CHINA HASN'T DELIVERED
ON HUMAN RIGHTS PLEDGES: U.S.
WASHINGTON, July 15, 2003--China pledged progress on
four specific human rights issues in pressing the
United States not to introduce a resolution condemning
Beijing at the U.N. Human Rights Commission this year,
Radio Free Asia (RFA) reports. But a U.S. official
says Beijing hasn't yet lived up to its side of the
bargain.
The United States asked the Chinese government to
declare that minors are entitled to religious freedom,
allow the International Committee of the Red Cross to
open a permanent office in China, permit regular
visits by U.N. rapporteurs, and conduct parole reviews
for some political prisoners, U.S. Deputy Assistant
Secretary of State for East Asia and the Pacific Randy
Schriver said.
"They said in the run-up to the decision-making that
they are willing to do certain things, and we were
willing to test that proposition, and thus far... the
Chinese have not done very well, I'm sorry to say,"
Schriver said in an interview. He was referring to
Washington's deliberations on whether to introduce a
resolution in Geneva criticizing Beijing's human
rights record.
"I think that the Chinese, in an effort to secure our
willingness not to do a resolution, gave us
indications that they were going to move forward in
these areas. To date we haven't seen the progress we
wanted to see. Perhaps there are reasons... and
they've been cited to us by the Chinese, but they are
not compelling--and we think they need to do more
right away."
This was only the third year since 1990 that the
United States has decided against introducing a China
resolution at annual meetings of the U.N. Human Rights
Commission in Geneva. Washington wasn't a commission
member last year. In 1998, then-President Bill Clinton
backed away from such a China resolution, ahead of his
visit to China.
RFA broadcasts news and information to Asian listeners
who lack regular access to full and balanced reporting
in their domestic media. Through its broadcasts and
call-in programs, RFA aims to fill a critical gap in
the lives of people across Asia. Created by Congress
in 1994 and incorporated in 1996, RFA currently
broadcasts in Burmese, Cantonese, Khmer, Korean, Lao,
Mandarin, the Wu dialect, Vietnamese, Tibetan (Uke,
Amdo, and Kham), and Uyghur. It adheres to the highest
standards of journalism and aims to exemplify
accuracy, balance, and fairness in its editorial
content.
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