World Tibet Network News Wednesday, February 04, 1998

WASHINGTON, 3 Feb (AP) -- Former dissident Wei Jingsheng said Tuesday a State Department report on human rights in China erred in saying there had been improvement.

Wei told a congressional panel that "traps set by the Chinese communists are working ... and the United States has gone so far as to disregard the facts and beautify the communists in this year's report."

He said he backed efforts by international human rights groups urging President Clinton to sponsor a resolution condemning China's record of suppressing dissent at a U.N. human rights meeting in Geneva this spring. Beijing has prevented the U.N. Commission on Human Rights from considering such a resolution for seven years.

"This resolution is a matter of life and death for democratic reform in China," Wei said, urging the United States, Britain and other European Union nations to back it. "Contrary to the State Department report, the human rights situation in China has not improved in any meaningful way."

Wei spent 11 years in prison in China before being released last fall and sent into exile in the United States. Several members of Congress have nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Two lawmakers also criticized the report's China section.

But John Shattuck, assistant secretary of State for human rights, said the report factually documented abuses while noting some positive steps, including "the release of a few political prisoners, continued legal reform and a somewhat greater tolerance of dissent."

"The abuses, which worsened in several areas, including Tibet, stem from the government's continued aversion to dissent and fear of unrest," said Shattuck.

The report issued last week said that although repression remains a serious problem in China, the government "exhibited some liberal toleration of public expressions of opposition to government policies and calls for political reform."

"How the report can assert that things are somehow better is beyond me," said Rep. Benjamin Gilman, R-N.Y., House International Relations Committee chairman.

Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., chairman of the committee's human rights panel, said, the report emphasized "isolated and microscopic improvements rather than the grim reality of continued systematic oppression."