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China Criticizes
Proposed UN Resolution on Human Rights
Luis Ramirez
Beijing
23 Mar 2004, 14:05 UTC
China is blasting U.S. plans to seek a resolution
criticizing Beijing's human rights record at the
United Nations Human Rights Commission in Geneva.
Assistant Foreign Minister Shen Guofang said Tuesday
that China will suspend exchanges on human rights with
the United States. He accused Washington of
intentionally damaging the foundation of dialogue
between the two countries on the issue.
Chinese officials said Mr. Shen called the U.S.
ambassador in Beijing Tuesday to discuss the matter.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan briefed reporters
on their conversation.
"The assistant foreign minister expressed China's
strong dissatisfaction and opposition to the proposed
U.S. resolution on China's human rights record," he
said. "He says the resolution has destroyed the basis
of the human rights dialogue between the two sides."
The United States says it will seek a resolution
criticizing Beijing's human rights record at the U.N.
Human Rights Commission meeting this week. Washington
officials say they are concerned about what they term
China's backsliding on earlier promises to improve its
human rights record.
Chinese officials accuse the United States of failing
to recognize its recent steps on human rights
protections. Officials say these include the decision
at this year's National People's Congress to include
the first mention of the term "human rights" in the
country's Constitution.
However, organizations such as the Human Rights in
China group say they doubt Beijing's resolve to
improve its rights record. Nicolas Bequelin at the
group's Hong Kong office says the government's
definition of food and shelter as human rights is a
narrow one. He says compliance with the terms of
international rights accords has been uneven.
"When it is favorable to the government of China to
appear to be engaging with the human rights mechanism,
they are doing it," said Mr. Bequelin. "At other times,
when it is convenient and whenever they want to avoid
public criticism of their human rights record, they
retract to this narrow definition."
U.S. officials say China's communist government has
continued to arrest democracy advocates, Internet
dissidents, members of unofficial churches, and those
suspected of following the banned Falun Gong spiritual
group.
The United States also has criticized Beijing for
using the war on terror to justify a crackdown on
suspected separatists among the country's Muslim
Uighur minority.
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