International Herald Tribune

Saturday-Sunday, March 14-15, 1998

China Might Escape UN Rights Censure

Reuters

WASHINGTON - The United States has hailed as a major advance the decision by China to sign UN human rights covenant, and it hinted that Beijing might escape US censure at a UN rights meeting in Geneva next week.

The State Department spokesman, James Rubin, said the Chinese announcement would have a "significant impact" on whether Washington would sponsor a resolution in Geneva critical of the Chinese record, but he said no final decision had been made.

Foreign Minister Qian Qichen said Thursday in Beijing that China would sign the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, something the United States has long been urging it to do.

Mr. Rubin called this" very welcome news."

"Clearly, this is a step forward," Mr. Rubin said Thursday. "It's the kind of step on human rights that the world has long called for and it will provide" a way "to shine the spotlight on human rights abuses in China," he said. That's why this convention is so important, and that's why this development is so significant."

Once China ratifies the covenant; it will have to report on its rights practices within one year and then every five years thereafter. The report will be reviewed by an international committee of specialists. By announcing its intention to sign the covenant, China has "indicated in more concrete terms than ever before that it accepts the universality of human rights. "Mr. Rubin said.

President Bill Clinton had made the signing of the covenant a priority topic during his meeting with President Jian Zemin of China last October.

China wants to avoid being censured at a meeting of the UN Commission on Human Rights that opens in Geneva on Monday.

The European Union, citing progress on human rights in China, has agreed not to sponsor a resolution this year critical of Beijing's record. But the United States, which co-sponsored a resolution last year, is keeping its options open.

"We'll have to assess our position in light of this decision by the Chinese. Mr. Rubin said.

In its annual human rights report, the State Department said this year that Beijing had made progress in protecting fundamental freedoms, although serious abuses remained.