By John Zarocostas. UPI. Virtual
NY. Monday, 9 April 2001
GENEVA, Switzerland, April 9 (UPI) -- It would be a scandal if the U.N.
Human Rights Commission fails to censure China and Cuba for their continued
gross violations, a ranking U.S. Congressman said here Monday at the end of a
diplomatic blitz.
Congressman Chris Smith, R-N.J., chairman and vice-chairman respectively of
the House Committees on Veterans Affairs and on International Relations, told
reporters if the 53 member country Commission fails to condemn and to speak out
against these ongoing violations it would also be a "a very serious blow
to the dissidents and to those who struggle daily under these oppressive regimes".
Smith, along with Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lethtinen R-Fla., and
Congressman Lincoln Diaz-Balart R-Fla., met here with the U.N. High Commissioner
for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, along with diplomats and foreign leaders in a
bid to try and secure votes for the draft resolutions critical of the rights
record of China and Cuba.
"China is a big and very strong country, but treats its own citizens
with profound disrespect and our hope is to stand with the oppressed and not the
oppressor," Smith said.
On March 30, China's ambassador Qiao Zonghuai told the U.N. rights body the
U.S. "out of its own selfish interests and domestic political
considerations, insists on tabling an anti-China draft resolution...poses
groundless allegations against China and provokes confrontation."
The Chinese envoy also leveled the charge "the U.S. concern for human
rights is a sham, what it really practices is power politics...The U.S. advocacy
of humanity is a fake, what it really pursues is hegemonism."
Turning to Cuba, Ros-Lethinen, said there has been an increase of arrests
and harassment of dissidents by the Castro regime and noted the latest U.S.
State department report concludes Cuba "continues to violate systematically
the fundamental civil and political rights of its citizens."
The push by the members of Congress was also aimed at countering the strong
campaign waged by Beijing and Havana to defeat any initiative critical of their
human rights record.
Chinese President Jiang Zemin's present two-week tour through six Latin
American countries, of which five -- Argentina, Brazil, Cuba, Uruguay, and
Venezuela -- are members of the U.N. Commission, say diplomats, is timely and
part of Beijing's traditional annual global diplomatic offensive of blocking the
body considering a resolution condemning its record going to a vote by mustering
the numbers for a no-action motion.
The Commission is slated to vote on the China issue around April 18-19.
Last year, the no-action motion passed by 22 votes to 18 with 12 abstentions and
also passed in 1999 by 22 to 17 with 14 abstentions.
However, the U.N. body last year adopted a resolution against Cuba,
co-sponsored by the Czech Republic and Poland by 21 votes in favor, 18 against,
and 18 abstentions.
The head of the Cuban delegation, Carlos Amat Fores, told delegates the
accusations against his country, year after year, is a U.S. exercise "which
has to do with a selective, politized and unfair maneuver, in correspondence
with an overbearing policy of a powerful country, and not with a legitimate and
honest concern for human rights."
Senior diplomats close to China, speaking on condition of non-attribution,
say Beijing feels confident it has the numbers to block a vote.
High level U.S. and western European diplomats , however, estimate the gap
is much smaller and too early to predict the final outcome.
Veteran human rights diplomats reckon the 37 developing country members of
the commission from Asia, Africa, and Latin America will be decisive in the
outcome.
The same officials maintain how many commission member countries, both
industrialized and poor; come down on the issue will depend who offers more in
the horse-trading for their votes, Washington or Beijing.
Smith said the de-linking of human rights and trade by President Clinton,
in 1994, was "a catastrophic step backward for human rights."
If you want to see progress, at least changes on them margins, at least the
ending of torture, if there was a political will to do it, he said, " the
linkage to trade would make a difference."
"There's far more exports (from China) going to the United States then
(U.S.) exports to China to the tune of $84 billion balance of trade .We have
some leverage. We refused to use it throughout the 1990's believing if you trade
with a dictatorship it may lessen their propensity to commit atrocities. That
has been proven in my view to be naive and wrong. Since it's the policy, I would
hope that it would work, but it has not worked," Smith noted.
But Smith said that, technically speaking, Permanent Normal Trading
relationship for China has not occurred because accession to the WTO has not
happened, and if it does not happen in the next two months, or so, the Congress
will have another opportunity if the President sets up an amendment of the
Jackson-Vanik amendment, which is the PNTR, the Congress will have another shot
at that issue to say no.
He admitted that the likelihood of succeeding is not all that high, unless
the President decides "because of the mistreatment of our servicemen
coupled with the ongoing human rights abuses and other issues that may be on the
board then there may be some kind of re-linking."
Smith said frankly he does not think that will happen, but Congress, he
added, "will get a second look at what has happen to human rights and the
trading issue."
Meanwhile, the New Jersey Congressman, who also chairs the Congressional
Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, said China has also acquired
weapons of mass destruction "which they've had but they have made them much
more perfect, they perfected their delivery capability, their ability to target
with ICBM's, they have grown their command and control, the dual use and other
technical capabilities, all to the detriment of those who believe in freedom
unless this dictatorship begins moving in the opposite direction towards
democracy."
Copyright 2001 by United Press International.All rights
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