WASHINGTON, D.C.—New hopes were expressed at a hearing, Jan. 27, on Capitol Hill, among several Congress members and China experts that the Obama administration will be more forthcoming than the Bush administration in holding China accountable for its unacceptable human rights record.
Congressman Frank Wolf, Co-chairman of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission (TLHRC) that sponsored the hearing held Jan. 27 on Capitol Hill, articulated his great disappointment in the Bush administration and with Secretary Paulson in its handling of China. Wolf, a Republican from Virginia, said his own Party’s leadership failed to address the China human rights policies adequately and hoped that President Obama would do much better.
One of the purposes of this hearing was to discuss the upcoming review on Feb. 9 of China by the United Nations Periodic Review (UPR). For three hours, starting at 9:00 a.m., China will be questioned concerning its human rights record and will have to listen to recommendations for improvements, and answer whether each recommendation is accepted or not.
Attending the House hearing was a panel of representatives from various human rights NGOs, including Amnesty International and Reporters Without Borders, who discussed the current status of human rights in China and why it was important for the U.S. to play a leading role in influencing the UN review.
“This will be the first substantive review of China in an intergovernmental United Nations setting in years,” said Felice Gaer, from the American Jewish Committee and is currently Chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. Gaer explained that it will be the first time that governments can ask questions on a country’s human rights record and receive answers from the country reviewed. Summary reports will appear on the UN website.
China is not alone in this 4th round of U.N. Human Rights’ Council of critiques. Sixteen other countries, several of whom also have less than stellar human rights records, will come under scrutiny during the two week period, including Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Cuba, Russian Federation, and Azerbaijan.
“The U.N. has seen nothing like this before,” said Gaer. “The idea that there is no protection from scrutiny is an important one,” Gaer said.
“A global human rights review is now being conducted for the first time in UN history,” said T. Kumar, from Amnesty International. The success of the China review “will set the tone for all future UPR reviews,” by setting a precedent that other powerful countries will need to respect, he said.
All 192 countries in the world will be monitored every four years—48 each year in three sessions of two week length. 2009 marks the second year since the reviews began, and February, the 4th cycle.
Congressman Wolf Wants an Aggressive China Ambassador
“The Bush administration did not do a very good job,” began Congressman Wolf regarding human rights in China, “And, I have said publicly, as a Republican, that that was the case.” Wolf added, “[Treasury Secretary] Paulson was very weak.” He hoped that Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner would not respond as lamely as Paulson did.
“For the record,” I hope Clark Randt is not going to go out and work for a business that is doing business in China,” Wolf stated.
Rep. Wolf recommended that TLHRC ask the Obama administration to put in an ambassador to China “who has the courage to side with the dissidents.” “The current ambassador, Clark Randt, almost always, literally, sided with the Chinese [regime], not with the dissidents. During the days of Ronald Reagan, the ambassador stood with dissidents in Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Hungary,” he said.
The American embassy, he complained gave minimal aid when he and Congressman Smith came to China last summer and found that everyone they were going to meet with was being arrested. He pointed out how his computer had been compromised as well as the White House by government spying of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). He criticized Secretary of State Rice for not speaking out on this matter.
Wolf named many groups who were victims of Chinese suppression, including the dissidents and democracy advocates, Tibetans and Uyghurs, and Falun Gong, Christians and Roman Catholics.
Wolf also fumed over the Bush administration leaving vacant, for what he said was one year, of the position of Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor (DRL). The Congressman implied that showed indifference by the Bush administration to human rights in China.
In selecting appropriate people to fill the ambassadorship or the Assistant Secretary positions, Rep. Wolf said he hoped the individual would be somebody who will be an advocate for the dissidents and not looking where they are going to go on their next job.”
Wolf said he hoped that the Commission would hold discussions with Secretary of State Clinton and make recommendations on persons to be selected ambassador to China and the Assistant Secretary of DRL.
In a similar vein, T. Kumar, representing Amnesty International, said they urge the Obama Administration “to not follow the Bush administration’s half-hearted approach to China’s human rights.”
Kumar noted that the PRC had already shown their intransigence by censoring parts of Obama’s inaugural speech.
“We urge President Obama to immediately condemn this action and send a strong message to the Chinese authorities that human rights is a priority for this administration. Kumar said that poor record Chinese have in keeping their promises on human rights means that President should be firm and not compromise our principles for the sake of trade.
Kumar expressed disappointment regarding U.N. Ambassador designee Susan Rice’s unwillingness to declare that the U.S. run for the U.N. Human Rights Council (UNHRC). Kumar stated as others on the panel did the need for the U.S. to return to the UNHRC where it can exert maximum influence on improving global human rights.
Tibet: Reminiscent of the Cultural Revolution
The Commission first heard on the status of human rights in China from Bhuchung Tsering of the International Campaign for Tibet. He read portions from a joint report of several Tibetan and human rights groups that had been prepared for the UPR. Below are a few highlights from his oral testimony.
Tsering referred to “the ‘disappearance ‘ and detention of hundreds of Tibetans, including monks, nuns and school children, who are treated with extreme brutality in custody … unarmed peaceful protesters who have been shot, or have died following torture in prison or as a result of suicide…”
Tsering drew attention to last year, 2008, with the torture of particular individuals. One was a 31 year-old Tibetan farmer named Dawa from Phenpo Lhundup County of the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR) who died April 1 after allegedly being severally beaten by Chinese prison guards.
The Chinese regime has introduced “harsh new restrictions on how Tibetans practice their Buddhist faith and increasing pressure to publicly denounce the Dalai Lama in an atmosphere reminiscent of the Cultural Revolution. In March 2008, the Communist Party leader in TAR called the Dalai Lama ‘a jackal in Buddhist monk’s robes, an evil spirit with a human face and the heart of a beast’.” Tserling deplored this kind of rhetoric and said it does not contribute to resolving the Sino-Tibetan conflict.
Rebiya Kadeer of the Uyghur American Association (UAA), and who served six years in prison for “leaking state secrets,” after merely sending public newspapers to her husband in the U.S., testified before the Commission. Kadeer spoke of the assault on the Ugyhur culture. The Uyghur language is banned in dormitories and even on the playgrounds of the preschools.
Another way the Communist regime works to destroy the Uyghur culture is by a program of targeting young, marriage-age, Uyghur women and transferring them to factories on the coastline. The UAA says the working conditions are appalling, and that the program is “slavery masquerading as government factory programs promoting economic progress.” By pressure and threats Beijing uses this program to break apart the creation of future families, undermines traditional Uyghur cultural norms, and provides cheap goods for PRC export.
