International Herald Tribune

Wednesday, June 17, 1998

AGENDA

CHINA OPPOSES ESTABLISHMENT WAR-CRIMES COURT

China cut a profile of defiance on Tuesday by declaring its opposition to any global war-crimes court that might look into "countries' internal affairs," and it underscored the message by pressuring a UN-sponsored conference in Rome to cancel an awkward press appearance by a Chinese government critic.

Deputy Foreign Minister Wang Guangya, China's delegate to the negotiations to establish an International Criminal Court, outlined China's restrictive approach to the power of the future court and the independence of its prosecutor.

"The court should not become a tool of political struggles or a means of interfering in other countries' internal affairs," he said.

China is said to fear international inquires into its policies in Tibet - a concern at this conference shared by other countries experiencing internal conflict, including Mexico, Russia, Indonesia, India, Israel and Algeria

(Compiled by our Staff from Dispatches)

ROME - The gloves came off on Tuesday at a United Nations conference on establishing a permanent world criminal court as countries whose human rights records are under fire ruled out cases being brought against their will.

The rhetoric of Monday's opening day - a chorus of calls for a truly independent International Criminal Court - soon fizzled out as China, Algeria and Pakistan delivered blunt messages and Beijing blocked a news conference at which a Chinese doctor was to have accused his nation of killing children.

Long stung by international criticism over its human rights record, China said the court should have jurisdiction only when the countries concerned gave their consent. That is something experts say would have made war crimes prosecutions in Rwanda or the former Yugoslavia impossible.

"The court should not become a tool of political struggles or a means of interfering in other countries' internal affairs," Wang Guangya, head of the Chinese delegation, said.

"The court can exercise its jurisdiction only with the consent of the countries concerned and should refrain from exercising such jurisdiction when case is already being investigated, prosecuted, or tried by a relevant country."

Consent is one of the thorniest issues before the conference, which also has to hammer out compromises on how much power a prosecutor should have to initiate proceedings and what role the Security Council should play.

At one end of the spectrum a coalition f 50 " like-minded" states, including Britain, South Africa and Argentina, want a strong, independent court and prosecutor. At the other a group of states, including Iran, Iraq, Algeria, India and Pakistan, want to keep strong national control over the law.

Protective of its role as one of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, China said the tribunal should not "compromise the principal role"

of the council.

That puts China on the same side as its fellow council member, the United States, which advocates close Security Council control of prosecutions. The United States argues that arrangement gives individual prosecutors and judges the political backing needed to do the job.

China also said there should be no vote on the treaty. Instead, it suggested passage by consensus, something else experts call impossible.

Organizers said Tuesday that 153 nations are attending. The delegates will seek agreement on a statute establishing the court and its rules. Individual nations must then ratify it. If approved, it could take several years for the court to be set up.

Pakistan told the conference each individual state had the competence to decide if it should try a case itself or let the International Criminal Court step in.

Algeria, which urged that "international terrorism" be brought under the remit of the court, said it was "quite clear domestic competence must be exercised in full sovereignty." (Reuters, AP)