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WASHINGTON
(Reuters) - U.S. lawmakers urged the Bush administration on Wednesday to push for a
resolution on China's human rights practices at next week's meeting of the U.N. Human
Rights Commission in Geneva.
In a letter to
President George W. Bush, 18 members of the U.S. House of Representatives
and the Senate said U.S. support for such a resolution would send an important signal, even
if it failed to win approval.
"We are
convinced that active U.S. involvement in sponsoring and supporting such proposals has
compelled the PRC (People's Republic of China) government to attach importance to the human rights concerns of
the United States and other countries," the lawmakers said.
The letter was
signed by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, a Montana Democrat,
Representative Doug Bereuter, a Nebraska Republican, and 16 other
congressional members of a human rights watchdog panel created by
legislation last year to establish permanent normal trade relations with China.
The group's mandate
is to produce an annual report on human rights and the development of the
rule of law in China.
The U.N. Human
Rights Commission's meeting begins on Monday. Although the United States currently is not a member, the lawmakers said U.S. officials could still work informally for a resolution on China's human rights record.
The United States was voted off the 53-nation panel last year. It can speak at
meetings of the commission and ask other nations to introduce resolutions.
A U.S. official said the Bush administration had not decided whether to
push for a resolution even though the United States has long criticised China on its human rights record.
In its annual human
rights report earlier this month, the State Department criticised China for its crackdown on religious groups in 2001. Bush, in a visit to China last month, urged Beijing to expand religious freedom, saying religion was not something to
be feared.
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