Sunday, January 12 1997; Page C06

The Washington Post

WHEN PRESIDENT Clinton abandoned his pledge to link trade privileges to an improvement in China's human rights record, he promised nevertheless to stand up for freedom in China where that was a proper American role. Now the administration and Secretary of State-designate Madeleine K. Albright have an opportunity to show whether the administration meant what it said, or whether the United States will yield to Beijing even where it has promised otherwise.

At stake is a forthcoming meeting of the United Nations Human Rights Commission. Ever since Chinese troops massacred hundreds of students in Tiananmen Square in 1989, the commission has considered, but never approved, resolutions urging China to respect the human rights of its citizens. Two years ago, the commission came close to adopting such a statement. Last year, after fierce Chinese lobbying and no effective U.S. leadership, the international body agreed, on a close vote, not even to debate the mildest of resolutions.

At her Senate confirmation hearing last week, Ambassador Albright adopted a wait-and-see position when asked whether the United States would seek a resolution this year. There's a need not to wait much longer. China already is campaigning hard to avoid censure. And unlike the United States, it has not "delinked" trade and human rights; as always, economic threats and blandishments are integral to China's lobbying. If the United States does not make clear soon that it is prepared to lead at Geneva, it is sure to lose during the session, which runs from March 10 to April 18.

More to the point, it is hard to see how anyone could question that China's human rights performance has worsened during the past year. Leading dissidents have received long jail terms; former student leader Wang Dan's 11-year sentence is typical. Bishop Zeng Jingmu, 76, was sentenced to three years of "reeducation through labor" for holding masses not sanctioned by the official Catholic Church.

Just two weeks ago, a Tibetan music expert and former Fulbright scholar, Ngawang Choephel, 30, received a breathtaking 18-year jail term for "espionage" after he returned to his homeland to film traditional music and dance. (The State Department mustered a statement of "concern," not even a condemnation.) In its suppression of minority rights and of speech, religion and assembly, China invites comparison with the Soviet KGB and gulag at their worst.

The most encouraging reading of Mrs. Albright's statement is that the United States is leaving the door open, hoping for improvements in China between now and March. But such a strategy, chancy at best, certainly cannot succeed without a credible threat of a resolution. There can be no such credibility if the United States does not act soon.