THE DUI HUA D I A L O G U E FOUNDATION Issue 16 z Summer 2004 US-China Dialogue Stymied After IN THIS ISSUE: Geneva, Abu Ghraib US-China Dialogue Stymied After pril was a cruel month for US human and hypocrite,” Dong Yunhu, secretary gen- Geneva, Abu rights diplomacy in China, dominated eral of China’s government-supported Ghraib byA the defeat of Washington’s latest China China Society for Human Rights Studies, 1-3 resolution at the UN Human Rights Com- said that the mistreatment of Iraqi prison- Kamm Visits mission in Geneva and breaking news, in the ers “ruined mankind’s dignity, trampled in- Denmark and month’s waning days, of the abuse of Iraqi ternational human rights conventions and Switzerland prisoners by American soldiers at Abu humanitarian laws, and constituted a sys- 3 Ghraib Prison in Baghdad. Alleged abuse of temic and gross violation of human rights.” China’s “Modern political prisoners in Chinese prisons has long In the words of a senior Chinese diplo- and Civilized” been a theme of American complaints mat interviewed for this story by Dialogue, Prison System against Beijing, and there was barely con- “It is not necessarily a bad thing these days 4-5 cealed glee in China’s capital at the tables to have been criticized by the US on human Court Web Sites having turned so decisively against rights.” In his last testimony before leaving Promising Source Washington. his position as Assistant Secretary of State for Obscure Case The attempt to pass a China resolution for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, Research at the 60th session of the United Nations Lorne Craner spoke of being “appalled” by 6-7 turned into nothing short of a rout, as China the abuses that occurred at Abu Ghraib and China Mulls was, for the first time, able to muster a called questions about the ability of the Ratification of majority of the body’s 53 members to vote United States to talk about human rights in Civil and Political in favor of its “no-action resolution.” China’s other countries “reasonable.” Rights Covenant margin of victory in favor of no-action— 8 which essentially means that the body will Maintaining the Suspension not even consider the resolution—was 10 The impact of Geneva and Abu Ghraib Dialogue is written by the votes, matching its best-ever result. So has been magnified by the increasing staff of The Dui Hua flushed with victory was Beijing that its uncertainties associated with the US Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to diplomats began to consider it possible, for presidential election in November. Simply advancing the protection of the first time, to do away with all country put, Beijing doesn’t know who it will be universally recognized resolutions at the UN meeting (resolutions dealing with in six months. It is also very human rights in China and the United States. referred to as Item Nine resolutions), thereby worried by the prospect that the Bush solving once and for all the question of administration will negotiate more weapon © 2004 China resolutions at the UN Human Rights sales with Taiwan. Chinese leaders The Dui Hua Foundation 450 Sutter Street Commission. remember that in September 1992 George Suite 900 Beijing was quick to comment on the W. Bush’s father sold 120 F-16 fighters to San Francisco, CA 94108 news of serious and widespread abuses of Taiwan in a political move to win votes in Email: [email protected] prisoners that surfaced in the US media in Texas. While most Chinese officials Web: www.duihua.org late April. Calling the US a “laughingstock probably lean in favor of Bush winning the election, several have noted some sign from the US side that it not take place this year either, accord- statements by Senator John Kerry, the values dialogue on human rights. ing to a Chinese official, due to “is- Democratic contender for president, Many officials still chafe at the re- sues related to her mandate.” Like that promoting human rights in China marks of Assistant Secretary of State Professor van Boven, Chinese diplo- would not be a top priority of a Kerry Richard Boucher, who portrayed the mats have tangled with the new administration, but would rather take Sino-US dialogue on human rights as rapporteur, who is known as a tough a back seat to “integrating China into essentially worthless. and independent rights advocate. An the world economy” and weapons Chinese diplomats handling hu- assessment session of China’s memo- non-proliferation. man rights were sorry to see the de- randum on technical cooperation Rather than resuming the official parture of Lorne Craner as Assistant with the UN High Commissioner’s dialogue with Washington, Beijing has Secretary of Human Rights, with Office on Human Rights scheduled decided to maintain the suspension whom a relationship of trust had for May was postponed. China’s Re- it announced on March 23, the day been built in the two and a half years ligious Affairs Bureau advised the US after the State Department advised between the September 11, 2001 at- Embassy in Beijing that the Commis- China’s embassy in Washington that tacks and the introduction of the sion on International Religious it would once again introduce a China 2004 Geneva Resolution. Craner re- Freedom, a congressionally-man- resolution at the Geneva meeting. turned to the IRI in early August, dated body that had tried to visit Some unofficial exchanges in the area leaving the handling of human rights China twice in 2003, was no longer of human rights and rule of law will policy in the hands of Acting Assis- welcome to visit China as its guest. continue, however, including Dui tant Secretary for Democracy, Hu- Hua’s unofficial dialogue on prison- man Rights and Labor Michael A Full Plate of Dialogues ers and the monitoring of village and Kozak, a seasoned and highly re- While dialogues with the US and township elections by groups like the spected State Department profes- the UN have been stymied, China’s Carter Center and the International sional with special expertise in Latin human rights programs with other Republican Institute (IRI). America. countries have been taking place at Prior to resuming the dialogue a quickened pace. A joint China-EU Dui Hua Channel Stays Open with the United States, Beijing will seminar on the International Cov- Dui Hua’s executive director be sparing in its human rights enant on Civil and Political Rights John Kamm spent the week of June concessions. The long-awaited visit (ICCPR) was held in Beijing in early 28 in Beijing meeting with officials to China by the UN Rapporteur on July, and it attracted some of the of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Torture, Professor Theo van Boven, leading human rights diplomats in Ministry of Justice, Supreme People’s was postponed by China’s Ministry Europe (see story on page 8). An Court, and the Supreme People’s of Foreign Affairs a few days before Australian delegation visited Tibet. Procuratorate. The sessions were van Boven’s arrival in Beijing in late There were official sessions of hu- friendly, and there were useful June. The official reason given by the man rights dialogues between China exchanges of information and ministry was that officials in charge and the UK in London in May, and opinions, including on specific cases. of organizing the visit were due to between China and Norway in The official dialogue on human take vacations, but in fact Beijing Beijing the same month. Senior rights between China and the United balked at accepting Professor van Dutch and German diplomats raised States is not expected to resume un- Boven’s demand for a letter from human rights issues and had substan- til after the November 2004 election. China’s Ministry of Public Security tive sessions, gathering information As in the past, its resumption might granting the UN team unlimited and on specific political prisoners. Of be announced when the leaders of unannounced access to any and all special importance was the visit of China and the US meet at the APEC detention facilities. the Dutch foreign minister in April. meeting in Chile in November. Prior The visit to China of the Rap- The Netherlands holds the presi- to the resumption, Beijing expects porteur on Religious Freedom will dency of the European Union for the 2 Dialogue second half of 2004, and it is play- sequence of the scandal might be in the country’s legal publications. ing a key role in the effort to win an Beijing feeling more comfortable Of special note was the recent agreement from Beijing for signifi- about admitting the seriousness of report of the death by torture on June cant human rights steps in exchange police abuses in China, where tor- 18 of a woman detained in Guizhou for the EU lifting the arms embargo ture in detention centers is rampant. Province’s Tongzi County for illegally imposed after June 4, 1989. On May 28, 2004, the Supreme distributing bibles. According to a The Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ People’s Procuratorate (SPP) report of the tragedy posted on the Department of International Agree- announced a year-long campaign web site of Legal Daily, the police had ments and Conferences, the group against “human rights infringement planned to subject the farmer, Jiang which manages China’s portfolio of crimes”—interrogation by torture, Zongxiu, to 15 days of administrative dialogues with the United Nations extorted confessions, illegal detention, but on the afternoon of the and other countries, has never been detention, and interference in voting detention the bible distributor was busier—so busy that no one knows rights.