It is a system that has worked well in the past for would-be
targets of condemnation.
"If the U.S. administration decides to sponsor the anti-China
resolution, we believe, like in previous situations, the majority of
the commission will be on China's side," Shen Guofang, China's deputy
representative at the United Nations said in an interview. "They don't
want to see a confrontation in the commission."
Mr. Shen predicted that the United States would not get the solid
support of Europe. Some Western diplomats here say the Chinese have
been able to play American and European commercial interests against
one other with considerable success.
China has had "dialogues" with European countries to explain its
record, Mr. Shen said, adding that there should be more talks with the
United States, whose main irritant may really be China's socialist
system, he said.
"Of course we have some room for improvement," Mr. Shen said. But
since the 1970's, when China began to open its economy and begin other
reforms, there have been big changes, he said. "China now has the best
human rights situation in its history."
Diplomats and human rights officials, who point to steps China has
begun taking to cooperate with rights monitors, say that public
criticism is anathema to Beijing. When the United Nations high
commissioner for human rights, Mary Robinson, said in China that the
rights situation had declined, officials warned her not to raise the
issue of Falun Gong, the banned religious sect, or other problems that
she has highlighted.
For a powerful and determined country like China -- or Russia, when
Chechnya is at issue, or at times the United States -- the United
Nations system can offer many ways to avoid public scrutiny and
embarrassing moments, from the Security Council all the way down to
subcommittees meeting in basement rooms.
Official functions are not the only focus. Film screenings, art
exhibitions, journalists' briefings and even ecumenical religious
services can be blocked by pressure from various nations. China is
considered one of the most active in denying a platform for critics,
including the Dalai Lama, who is effectively barred from United
Nations events.
Ahead of the annual commission meeting in Geneva, which this year
runs from March 20 until the end of April, China has been running a
two-track defense, diplomats and human rights advocates say.
In Geneva, the Chinese are expected to try to keep an
American-sponsored resolution on its human rights record off the full
commission's agenda by using a pre-emptive parliamentary technique, a
"no action" motion. With support of other Asian, African and some
Latin American countries, China has managed to have the resolution
struck in advance nearly every year; once it was discussed and
defeated.
India, whose rights record the State Department last week
characterized as rife with "significant abuses," backs China, as does
Iran.
On a second track, China works to bar organizations of Chinese or
Tibetan exiles from getting a hearing there. This year it has already
succeeded in excluding Human Rights in China, a New York-based group
led by prominent exiles.
Fang Lizhi, an astrophysicist now teaching in the United States, is
co-chairman with Robert Bernstein of Human Rights in China; Xiao
Qiang, another scientist in exile who has worked closely with Chinese
grass-roots groups, particularly the mothers of victims at Tiananmen
Square in 1989, is executive director.
Human rights groups and United Nations officials say that in the
past the commission meeting in Geneva had been unique within the
United Nations system in its openness to nongovernmental
organizations. But they say that may be changing.
Joanna Weschler, Human Rights Watch's representative at the United
Nations, said that tolerance for nongovernmental organizations, known
as NGO's, has generally been shrinking under the current composition
of a 19-member committee that is able to grant or deny "consultative
status" to independent groups.
Margaret Huang, Asia program director for the Robert F. Kennedy
Memorial Center for Human Rights in Washington, said the committee was
"not very NGO-friendly now." Some Western diplomats agree.
The Kennedy center made Mr. Xiao a member of its delegation last
year, and was criticized for giving back-door access. "This year I
feel for the first time I may not be able to speak," Mr. Xiao said.
"If we're not going and don't speak, Chinese issues are gone from the
commission."
NITED
NATIONS, March 6 -- With the Clinton administration determined to have
China's record on human rights condemned by the United Nations Human
Rights Commission in Geneva, the Chinese are relying on intensive
diplomacy and procedural ploys to escape criticism.
