AFP: U.S. Legislators Pile Pressure on Bush Over China Rights

WASHINGTON, Feb 15, 2001 -- (Agence France Presse) Exiled dissidents and legislators Wednesday called on the U.S. government to censure China at the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva, setting up an early political test for President George W. Bush.

High-profile exiles [...] and rights campaigners turned up the heat on the administration as it mulls whether support a motion condemning China at a commission meeting in Geneva.

Minnesota Senator Paul Wellstone, a champion of human rights causes in Congress, has introduced a bipartisan Senate resolution calling on Bush's new foreign policy team to take a stand against rights abuses in China.

"The United States cannot be silent, but must lead international condemnation of China's terrible abuse of its citizen's fundamental human rights," Wellstone told reporters.

China has signed but not yet ratified the UN Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the Covenant on Political and Civil Rights, but Wellstone poured scorn on Beijing's motives.

"In all due respect, your words do not matter, your record has been atrocious," he said.

A concurrent non-binding resolution is also to be lodged with the House of Representatives. Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi of California, who supports the move, called on Bush to send a "clear message" that he supports human rights in China.

"The world looks to our new president to declare his commitment to promoting democratic values .... Now it is more important than ever for the United States to organize and win the vote in Geneva," she said.

The United States co-sponsored a resolution against China in Geneva in 2000, but Beijing, with its habitual massive lobbying effort, stopped the move in its tracks.

Secretary of State Colin Powell told a congressional committee during confirmation hearings last month that the new administration was considering whether to sponsor a resolution in Geneva.

Next week Powell's State Department is due to release its annual human rights report, which in the past has been harshly critical of China's treatment of political activists, non state sanctioned religions and prisoners.

This year's campaign by activists is the first since they lost a battle last year to defeat a historic China trade bill which they say rewards Beijing for an appalling human rights record.