Agence France Presse / Christophe de Roquefeuil
WASHINGTON, April 18 (AFP) - The United States on Tuesday put a brave face on the failure of a resolution condemning China's controversial human rights record to gain approval at the top UN human rights body.
The blocking of the US-sponsored resolution, presented to the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva, was not entirely unexpected. But it came as the White House attempts to convince a sceptics at home that it can continue to keep the pressure up on human rights in China, even if bilateral trade is permanently liberalized.
"By sponsoring a resolution on China, we have helped draw the attention of the world and the Chinese authorities themselves to China's poor human rights record, and the plight of the Chinese people," Harold Hongju Koh, assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labor, said in a statement which was released by the State Department.
"We hope this will help to improve human rights conditions in China," he said.
The United States had announced its intention to introduce the resolution condemning Beijing months earlier, theoretically leaving ample time to win support for its passage at the meeting of the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva.
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright even traveled to Geneva on March 23 to lobby for the measure. Her trip was the first time the chief US diplomat had appeared before the UN rights body, and was an indication of the importance of the resolution for Washington.
But on Tuesday, 22 of 53 commission members supported a Chinese "no action" motion on the US-sponsored resolution, effectively blocking it.
Only eighteen members voted against the Chinese no-action motion, 12 abstained and one country, Romania, was not present for the vote.
Every year for the last 10 years, except in 1995, China has successfully used the maneuver to block a vote condemning its human rights record.
Koh on Tuesday downplayed Beijing's victory, saying "the gap by which the no-action motion passed narrowed once again this year."
The US State Department has said human rights conditions in China have deteriorated seriously in the last year, with increased repression against ethnic and religious minorities, journalists and intellectuals.
The condemnation in Geneva was especially important to US President Bill Clinton, who is lobbying for a normalization of trade relations with China.
Clinton has asserted that congressional approval for permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) with China would not prevent Washington continuing to voice criticism of rights abuses in China. US lawmakers, labor unions and humanitarian groups opposed to PNTR for China have argued that it would deprive Washington of leverage on human rights issues.
The US Congress is to vote by the end of May on PNTR. China has made clear that PNRT is a prerequisite to a landmark trade deal granting China entry in the World Trade Organization in return for sweeping measures opening its markets to US goods.
Last week, Albright argued before Congress that granting PNTR status to China would help integrate it more closely into the world economy, and in turn "promote the rule of law, and aid those within China who want to develop a more open society."
In another sign of the sensitive nature of relations between China and Washington, the United States announced Monday it was postponing a decision on the sale of four sophisticated Aegis naval destroyers to Taiwan. The postponement was interpreted as a move aimed at defusing tensions with China.:
