Published by: World Tibet Network News, Monday, May 6, 1996

Source: `Renmin Ribao', Beijing, overseas edition in Chinese 29 Apr 96 p4

Text of Chinese Communist Party newspaper `Renmin Ribao' (overseas edition) article by Zhao Hua (3564 5478) entitled: "Is the West truly concerned about human rights in China?"

On six occasions the Western countries, including the United States, have put forward an annual anti-China resolutions on human rights and met with defeat, indicating their unpopularity. Meanwhile, this also gives much food for thought.

We have never said that China does not have the human rights issue any more. Nevertheless, we must make it clear: We can rely only on the Chinese ourselves to further promote human rights in China, not on the Western countries. First, there are many cases of human rights violations in Western countries. They that cannot even resolve their own problems do not have the right or the qualifications to make irresponsible remarks about other countries. As the saying goes, "one should correct oneself first before correcting others" . Second, though their calls are high-sounding, the Western countries definitely are not truly concerned about human rights in China. As far as the whole nation is concerned, true human rights should mean enjoying the rights of freedom and equality in accordance with the law, and a happy, stable and peaceful life and development. Yet judging from the so-called cases of "human rights violations in China" enumerated by the Western countries, what they want the human rights situation to be

like in China is actually social turmoil and national division. The following two examples can demonstrate that the Western countries adopt a double standard on human rights issues and that their "concern for human rights in China" is a sham.

Every year, the US State Department's "human rights report" criticizes the majority of countries, including the West European nations, with the exception of itself, for their human rights situations. A year ago, when asked to comment on US attacks on the human rights situation in France, Pasqua, then French minister of state for interior and regional development, told reporters that the United States itself has a lot of human rights problems and is not qualified to give France a "moral lecture" . This statement itself is correct. However, to target China and other developing nations and to achieve common political goals, certain West European countries beat the drum for the United States and act as world human rights "judges".

There are some groups and forces asserting their independence and pursuing splittism in certain areas of Western countries, such as the French island of Corsica and the Basque region between France and Spain. In this regard, their governments adopt a firm and tough attitude, and do not tolerate territorial division, on which the United States and other Western nations have never made irresponsible remarks. However, on the Chinese government's principled stand on resolutely opposing attempts and moves to split Tibet and Taiwan from China, they grossly interfered in China's internal affairs and even falsely accused China of "violating human rights in Tibet and Taiwan" while stating that they recognize both Tibet and Taiwan as part of Chinese territory. What logic is this?

It must be noted that people and forces harbouring last century's vestiges of big-power ideology running amuck are unhappy to see China' s rapid economic growth. Thus they disseminate the "China threat theory" , China's "terrible human rights record" , "containment of China" and other arguments. Hence, the Chinese people must have self-confidence and guard against them.