World Tibet Network News Saturday, March 14, 1998

WASHINGTON, March 13, 1998 (AP) The United States hailed as a major advance China's decision to sign a U.N. human rights covenant, and hinted Beijing might escape U.S. censure at a U.N. rights meeting in Geneva next week.

State Department spokesman James Rubin said the Chinese announcement would have a "significant impact'' on whether Washington would sponsor a resolution in Geneva critical of the Chinese record but that no final decision had been taken.

Foreign Minister Qian Qichen said earlier in Beijing that China would sign the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, something the United States has long been urging it to do.

At a news briefing Thursday, Rubin called this "very welcome news''.

"Clearly, this is a step forward. It's the kind of step on human rights that the world has long called for and it will provide ... a way for the world to shine the spotlight on human rights abuses in China,'' Rubin said.

"That's why this convention is so important and that's why this development is so significant.''

Once China ratifies the covenant, it will have to report on its rights practices within one year and then every five years thereafter. The report will be reviewed by an international committee of experts.

"By announcing its intention to sign the covenant, China has ... indicated in

more concrete terms than ever before that it accepts the universality of human rights,'' Rubin said.

He said President Bill Clinton had made the signing of the covenant a priority topic during a summit with Chinese President Jiang Zemin last October.

Also on Thursday, the Senate approved a nonbinding resolution that urges the Clinton administration to offer a resolution at the Geneva meeting that condemns China's human rights record in China and Tibet. The measure passed on a 95-5 vote. The House is to consider a similar measure next week.

U.S. officials said Thursday that Clinton was actively considering bringing forward a return visit to China from November to late June or early July in order to keep up the progress in U.S.-Chinese relations.

China is anxious to avoid censure at a meeting of the U.N. Commission on Human Rights that opens in Geneva next Monday.

The European Union, citing progress on human rights in China, has agreed not to sponsor a resolution this year critical of Beijing's record. But the United States, which co-sponsored a resolution last year, has been keeping its options open.

"We'll have to assess our position in light of this decision by the Chinese,'' Rubin said.

In its annual human rights report, the State Department said this year there had been progress in Beijing's protection of fundamental freedoms, although serious abuses remained.