Dear Mr. Axworthy:

We, the undersigned groups concerned about human rights abuses in China, were deeply disappointed with Monday's announcement that the Canadian government will not co-sponsor the Danish motion to censure human rights abuses in China at the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in Geneva.

Non-governmental organizations such as ours in the human rights field are often considered naive when we simply demand firm action to uphold the tenets of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. We have been informed, in China's case, that we don't appreciate the complexity of the situation, including Canada's "promising bilateral measures", and the human rights benefits of trade liberalization.

Well, Mr. Axworthy, with all due respect, we submit that the Canadian government may be naive to think that Chinese leaders are seriously committed to human rights reform. We don't have to go back to the horrors of Tiananmen Square to make our point. Look at the harsh, illegal sentences which were handed down last year to Wang Dan and Ngawang Choephel by compliant Chinese courts. With these sentences and countless others, the Chinese government confirms its contempt for international human rights standards and the protests of countries around the world. Look, too, at the fact that Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch Asia both assert that the human rights situation in China has deteriorated in recent years.

Should we seriously believe that the Chinese regime is committed to anything other than window dressing to defeat international outrage at its flagrant human rights abuses? Please consider China's tactics as it fought off censure. China threatened to use its Security Council veto to derail the vital Canadian mission to Haiti. China threatens trade sanctions against Denmark. China has bought off some desperately poor countries with trade or financial favours, and threatened to cripple others economically unless they oppose the China motion at the UNCHR.

France was the first EC country to buckle under Chinese pressure. Can you doubt that the France-China Airbus sale was a major part of the equation? We certainly can imagine that pressure was likewise exerted on Canada to choose trade over human rights?

You refer in your press release to Canada's involvement in Chinese "legal reform and institution building". But are you aware, sir, that the Chinese constitution guarantees all the freedoms required for an open political system: assembly, association, religion, speech, legal and labour rights and others. The problem is not the lack of legal text but the obvious fact that the Chinese leaders and their Party, corrupt to the core, are above the law. They bend it to their will, and God help any jurist who dares to assert the Constitution or the rule of law.

You have deserted friends like Denmark, Britain and the U.S. and allowed Canada to be bullied by a brutal, intransigent regime. Rather than redressing the balance of Canadian policy in the direction of our traditional respect for human rights, which you promised less than a week ago, you have deserted human rights in order to promote trade.

We are afraid that Canada has told the Chinese regime that they can get away with it. They can jail brave men like Wang Dan who submit mild petitions to the National Peoples' Congress, allow torture in their jails, brutalize Tibetan nuns and monks, install a fake Panchen Lama against the will of the Tibetan people, bash in the heads of non-sanctioned Christian worshipers and execute thousands after inadequate trials. Canada will protest meekly but, when it comes to the crunch, Canada will buckle under and shake the tyrants' hand.

Mr. Awworthy, we deeply disappointed by our government. We have no hope whatsoever that your bilateral arrangements will bring about significant human rights reform in China. In fact, by shaking and strengthening the hand of the Chinese regime, we help to entrench its abuses.

If this letter appears harsh, it is because we are harshly disappointed.

Sincerely,

China Human Rights Group

Canada-Tibet Committee, Montreal

Chinese Alliance for Democracy, Canada

Committee for the Release of Vietnamese Prisoners, Montreal

June 4th Massacre Investigation, Toronto

La Ligne du droits et libertes, Montreal

Social Justice Committee, Montreal

Toronto Association Democracy in China

Vancouver Society in Support of the Democratic Movement

Vancouver Association of Chinese Canadians