(New York) President George W. Bush should use his Oval Office meeting this Thursday [March 22] with Chinese Vice Premier Qian Qichen to press for concrete progress on human rights in advance of the president's visit to China later this year. Bush will attend the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Shanghai, October 20-21, and will also visit Beijing.
"China's human rights situation has taken such a turn for the worse that Bush is going to have to address the issue head on," said Mike Jendrzejczyk, Washington director for Human Rights Watch's Asia division. "The message should be that U.S. pressure to end human rights violations is not going to stop until restrictions on basic freedoms of association, assembly, and expression are eased."
Human Rights Watch said that those restrictions had led to many of the abuses outlined in the State Department's highly critical report of China's human rights practices, issued last month, and were a primary reason for the U.S. decision to sponsor a resolution critical of China at the annual session of the U.N. Commission on Human Rights that opened March 19 in Geneva.The abuses included the arbitrary detention of thousands for their peaceful political and religious beliefs, in many cases without any judicial process whatsoever; controls on Internet usage, directed in particular against the exchange of information between those in China and those living abroad; suppression of labor activism; and an ongoing crackdown on unauthorized religious activities.
"As long as those abuses continue, neither the Bush administration nor any other government should assume that China's acceptance of the terms of two international human rights treaties indicates any real change in practice," said Jendrzejczyk. Last month, China ratified the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, but indicated it would not be bound by the provisions relating to workers' right to organize and join unions of their choice. The U.S. signed the treaty in 1977 but has yet to ratify it. China signed but has not yet ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, a treaty the U.S. ratified in 1992.
Bush should use the meeting with Qian to pursue an invitation extended by China in March 1999 for a visit by the U.S. Secretary of Labor and seek to schedule a trip by Elaine Chao some time before the APEC summit.
"This is an opportunity to begin a high level dialogue on protection of core worker rights, as well as to offer help in creating the kind of social safety nets that can enhance the protection of social and economic rights more generally," said Jendrzejczyk. Rural healthcare and education have deteriorated noticeably in recent years, and there are no systems in place to provide insurance for laid?off or pensioned workers.
Human Rights Watch warned the Bush administration against any effort by Qian Qichen to offer resumption of a bilateral human rights dialogue in exchange for a U.S. agreement to drop its sponsorship of the resolution in Geneva. China suspended the dialogue in May 1999 after the NATO bombing of its embassy in Belgrade. "If the human rights situation in China warrants international criticism, that criticism should be forthcoming, regardless of whatever bilateral issues are on the agenda," Jendrzejczyk said.
Human Rights Watch also called on Bush to move quickly, in conjunction with Congressional leaders, to appoint members of the bilateral Congressional-Executive commission on China mandated by the legislation enacted last year granting Beijing Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR.) The commission is to be composed of both Senators and U.S. Representatives, plus executive branch officials chosen by the president. It is charged with monitoring human rights, labor rights and religious freedom, conducting rule of law programs, making policy recommendations, and carrying out other initiatives. Its first report is due this October. Bush should ask Qian Qichen to cooperate with the commission, and to favorably consider any request by the commission to visit China in advance of the president's October trip.
