Washington, Hong Kong iMail

28 February 2001 / 01:32 AM

THE United States slammed China's human rights record yesterday in a searing 133-page report that charged Beijing with intensifying its crackdown on political dissent and religion last year, in continued violation of internationally recognised norms of behaviour.

The report was issued as part of the State Department's annual report on human rights violations worldwide.

It is far larger and more detailed than in previous years, and is likely to increase pressure in Congress for the new Bush administration to take a tougher line in its relations with Beijing than did the Clinton administration.

The document was released as the administration was said to be preparing an announcement that it would again sponsor a resolution condemning China's human rights abuses at the annual meeting of the United Nations Human Rights Commission in Geneva next month.

``The government's poor human rights record worsened,'' the State Department report said. ``The government intensified crackdowns on religion and, in Tibet, intensified its harsh treatment of political dissent, and suppressed any person or group perceived to threaten the government.''

Beijing ``continued to commit widespread and well-documented human rights abuses in violation of internationally accepted norms,'' it said.

The government's respect for religious freedom deteriorated markedly during the year, the report said, noting Beijing had ``significantly intensified'' its anti-Falun Gong campaign.

``By year's end, thousands of unregistered religious institutions had been either closed or destroyed, hundreds of Falun Gong leaders had been imprisoned, and thousands of Falun Gong practitioners remained in detention or were sentenced to re-education-through-labour camps or incarcerated in mental institutions.

``Various sources report that approximately 100 or more Falun Gong practitioners died as a result of torture and mistreatment in custody.''

The department estimated that several thousand political prisoners were being held in mainland prisons, although it also noted that mainland authorities had released ``a few'' political prisoners before their terms were over.

The report was compiled and written late last year by the American Embassy in Beijing, and was sent to Washington before President George Bush was inaugurated. While rewriting continued until the last minute, it is hard to detect signs of additions by the Bush administration.

In a separate report, the State Department generally gave Hong Kong a good rating on the political side. Recent concerns over the resignation of Chief Secretary for Administration Anson Chan Fang On-sang and of government warnings to local Falun Gong practitioners were missing in the report.

``The government generally respected the human rights of residents, and the law and judiciary generally provide effective means of dealing with individual instances of abuse,'' it said. As in previous years, however, the report noted human rights abuses and reports of police brutality.

It also cited ``limitations on residents' ability to change their government and limitations on the power of the legislature to affect government policies''.