EU expected to vote on Friday in favour of a US resolution on human rights in China

Brussels / Geneva, 21/04/1999 (Agence Europe)

The EU is expected to vote on Friday in favour of a resolution on human rights in China, tabled by the United States at the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva. Germany announced on Tuesday evening in Geneva that the EU would not co-sponsor the text, but would vote for the resolution and against the motion of "non-action" that would have allowed China to block the American resolution through a procedural move. The General Affairs Council meeting last March called for the EU not to table a resolution on human rights in China, but to support a thematic resolution on the rights of dissidents worldwide, targeted at China but without naming that country explicitly (see EUROPE of 24 March, page 8). This solution now seems to be ruled out for tactical and legal reasons and the EU has rallied behind the American position. The US administration, which had refrained until now from directly lashing out at human rights violations in China, has the backing of the American Congress, which has explicitly asked it to table

such a resolution.