DATE=1/31/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=CHINA-US-HUMAN RIGHTS (L ONLY)
NUMBER=2-258609
BYLINE=ROGER WILKISON
DATELINE=BEIJING
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: China has warned the United States against
introducing a resolution criticizing Beijing's human
rights record at the United Nations Commission on
Human Rights. VOA correspondent Roger Wilkison
reports China says such a move would be harmful to
Sino-US relations.
TEXT: Chinese Vice-Foreign Minister Wang Guangya is
quoted by official news media Monday as saying
Washington's intention to criticize China's human
rights practices will make it impossible for the two
countries to hold private talks on the subject.
The U-S-China dialogue on human rights has been
suspended since NATO bombed the Chinese embassy in
Yugoslavia last May.
The United States has said China's human rights
performance deteriorated during 1999 and that
Washington will sponsor a resolution critical of
Beijing at the U-N Commission in March. Washington
pointed to China's crackdown on political dissent, its
suppression of the Falun Gong exercise and meditation
movement and its restrictions on Christians and
Tibetan Buddhists.
Mr. Wang says the American move is unjustified and
doomed to fail because -- in his words -- China now
has the best human rights situation in its history.
The Chinese diplomat accuses what he describes as
anti-China forces in the United States of using human
rights to undermine China's political stability and
development. He says no country should venture to be
the teacher of others on human rights.
Mr. Wang is also quoted by the official English -
language China Daily as accusing Washington of using
double standards. He says the United States did not
shrink from using force to suppress the Branch
Davidian cult. So -- he asks -- why should it
criticize China's crackdown on Falun Gong.
China maintains that Falun Gong is an evil cult
because -- among other things -- it advised its
adherents not to seek medical help. The government
says that, as a result, about 14-hundred Falun Gong
members died. Mr. Wang says China would be guilty of
trampling on the human rights of its citizens if it
had tolerated Falun Gong.
Previous attempts by the United States in recent years
to get a resolution critical of China through the U-N
Human Rights Commission have failed, mainly because
Washington was unable to attract European support for
the move. (signed)
NEB/RW/FC/JO
31-Jan-2000 05:34 AM EDT (31-Jan-2000 1034 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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