U.S. Says Human Rights in China Worsened in 1999

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - China's human rights record worsened noticeably in 1999 as authorities hit at the China Democracy Party, the Falun Gong spiritual movement, the media and unregistered churches, the United States said on Friday.

``Beginning in the spring, Communist Party leaders moved quickly to suppress what they believed to be organized challenges that threatened national stability and Communist Party authority,'' the State Department said in its annual report on the state of human rights around the world.

``The government's poor human rights record deteriorated markedly throughout the year, as the government intensified efforts to suppress dissent,'' the report on China said.

Several thousand people are in Chinese jails, in violation of international conventions, for peacefully expressing their political, religious and social views, and in 1999 fewer political prisoners than usual were released early, it said.

By the end of the year almost all the key members of the fledgling opposition China Democracy Party were in jail, either serving long prison terms or in custody without formal charges. ''Only a handful of dissidents nationwide dared to remain active publicly,'' the report added.

On the Falun Gong movement, an irritant in relations for many months, the report said tens of thousands of members have been detained. Quoting ``some reports,'' it said the government has started putting members in psychiatric hospitals.

The Chinese authorities say the mass movement, a mixture of Buddhism, Taoism, meditation and breathing exercises, is an ''evil cult'' responsible for the death of 1,400 practitioners and a threat to the country's social stability.

The United States has already announced it will sponsor a resolution critical of China at a meeting in March in Geneva of the U.N. Commission on Human Rights.

China said this would be a blow to resuming a bilateral dialogue on human rights, suspended by China in May 1999 after the United States bombed the Chinese embassy in Belgrade.

Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, briefing reporters on the report, dismissed the argument that the United States should respond to Chinese abuses by denying China the permanent normal trade relations which it seeks.

``We will continue to speak out on behalf of those in China who are systematically denied basic political and religious freedoms ... but we also see greater prospects for progress by pursuing our interests through our ties with China than by cutting those ties,'' she said.

On the media in China, the State Department report said, ''The government tightened restrictions on freedom of speech and of the press, and increased controls on the Internet; self-censorship by journalists also increased.''

``Control and manipulation of the press by the government for political purposes increased during the year,'' it said.

On religion, which the Communist Party dislikes but tolerates within limits, the report said, ``The government continued to restrict freedom of religion and intensified controls on some unregistered churches.''

In some areas, the authorities broke up religious services, harassed and sometimes fined, detained, beat and tortured church leaders and members, it said.

The crackdown on dissent extended to outlying regions with restive ethnic minorities, such as Tibet and the western province of Xinjiang, which has a large Uighur population.

``Some minority groups, particularly Tibetan Buddhists and Muslim Uighurs, came under increasing pressure as the government clamped down on dissent and 'separatist' activities,'' the report said.

In Tibet it expanded and intensified a ``patriotic education campaign'' aimed at controlling the Buddhist monasteries and expelling supporters of the Dalai Lama, the exiled spiritual and national leader of Tibet, it said.

The State Department did, however, see some improvements in the level of freedom in China.

It noted village elections took place, as well as experiments with elections at the higher level of township.

The wealthier social groups played an increasing role in community life and most Chinese lived under looser economic controls, with more room for individual choice and more diversity in cultural life, the report said.

China vigorously defends its human rights record and deeply resents U.S. criticism. In a white paper released last week it boasted that its 1.2 billion people enjoyed ``unprecedented democracy and freedom'' safe from hunger, cold and ignorance.

The document rejected the Western approach to human rights and insisted China would follow its own path, focusing on the right to subsistence and economic development.

The State Department said its full report on China was to be available later on Friday through the State Department's Web site, http://www.state.gov/.