AFP: U.S. Says It Will Continue to Back Human Rights in China, [...]

WASHINGTON, Feb 5, 2001 -- (Agence France Presse) The United States reiterated Sunday that it remained committed to supporting human rights in China [...]. In an interview with ABC television, Secretary of State Colin Powell stressed that he had underscored the U.S. interest in human rights in China during a recent meeting with Chinese Ambassador to the United States Li Zhaoxing. "I wanted there to be no mistake with our Chinese interlocutors that there is an interest in human rights," he said. "You will not see any diminution of American support for human rights in China," President Bush's national security advisor, Condoleezza Rice, concurred. Asked whether Washington would vote to condemn China's human rights policies when the United Nations Commission on Human Rights meets in Geneva next month, Rice told CNN: "What we do at that meeting will be consistent with our views on the importance of human rights." Powell for his part said Washington was considering but was not committed to a statement of condemnation. "As China tries to join the world community, tries to become a member of the World Trade Organization, tries to improve its diplomatic position, it has to treat its own people well," Rice said. "So I think you will not see any diminution of the importance for human rights in China. In fact you'll see a renewed emphasis on it." [...]