New York Times - April 8, 1997

By PAUL LEWIS

UNITED NATIONS With key European countries already withholding their support, China bluntly warned Denmark on Monday that relations between them would be "severely damaged" if it pressed ahead with plans to sponsor a resolution condemning Beijing for human rights abuses before a U.N. commission in Geneva.

"If Denmark insists on doing this, it will end up the biggest loser," China's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Shen Guofang, said in Beijing. "We still hope Denmark will think seriously about the consequences of such action. I can say relations will be severely damaged in the political and economic trade areas."

China issued its threat after France refused to back the resolution, which the European Union has presented to the U.N. Human Rights Commission every year since the 1989 killings in Tiananmen Square.

In doing so, France argued that dialogue is preferable to confrontation with China, but the decision clearly signaled France's unwillingness to jeopardize its commercial relations with Beijing.

The French move came as President Jacques Chirac was preparing to visit Beijing next month, and it followed a recent $2-billion order from China for Airbus passenger jets, which are partly built in France.

Germany, Italy, and Spain also withheld their endorsements of the resolution condemning China's human rights record, making it impossible for the European Union to sponsor it as a group.

Last week, the Netherlands, which holds the rotating presidency of the European Union, warned other members that the group's inability to sponsor a resolution this year would undermine its credibility. The failure could also set back the European Union's hopes of developing a common foreign policy.

In the past, although resolutions critical of China have been put forward, Beijing has always succeeded in blocking them, usually by persuading the 53-nation commission to pledge to take no action, which in practice prevents the resolution from coming to a vote.

Although the Danish resolution has little chance of passing, the United States said on Monday that it will back it.

"I was in Geneva last week lobbying against the no-action motion," Bill Richardson, the American delegate to the United Nations, said. "We want a full public debate on the human rights situation in China. And we will be supporting the Danish resolution."

While Danish diplomats said the government had not yet agreed on the resolution's precise text, they said it would probably be similar to last year's version, which was comparatively weak.