Published by: World Tibet Network News, Monday, August 5, 1996

Beijing-Aug. 5-FWN/UPI--CHINA TODAY SLAMMED A HUMAN rights group's July report that accused Beijing of gross violations and attempts to silence international criticism, calling the charges "fabricated" and "sheer lies."

"Human Rights Watch/Asia's unwarranted attack on China...was deliberately fabricated and confused right with wrong," a top official with the China Society for Human Rights Studies told the official Xinhua news agency.

The report, "China: The Cost of Putting Business First," was released July 10 and called for a long-term strategy to protect human rights in the world's most populous nation.

It accused Beijing of using trade and business reprisals to stop other nations from criticizing China's human rights record, forcing governments to choose between principle and profit.

As countries kowtow to Beijing out of fear of losing opportunities in China's giant markets, the New York-based group charged, "The lesson from all this may not be that freer trade produces a freer society, but that failure to protect human rights can be very bad for business."

The report documented restrictions on freedom of expression, arbitrary detentions, crackdowns on religious freedom in Tibet, persecution of dissidents and moves to curtail civil liberties in Hong Kong.

The official said the organization "gratuitously slandered" China with its accusations that also included attacks on the government's Strike Hard Campaign against crime.

"Since its founding in 1985, Human Rights Watch has stirred up disputes over human rights issues, fabricated rumors to attack and slander China, and played henchman for Western forces that oppose China," he told Xinhua.