美国指责中国背弃人权承诺的一篇文章

来源:百度文库 编辑:超级军网 时间:2024/03/29 05:40:25

BEIJING, Aug. 20 -- The Bush administration has accused China of backsliding on human rights commitments it made to address U.S. concerns, including specific promises that helped persuade President Bush not to pursue a resolution condemning Beijing at a U.N. forum in Geneva this year.

The human rights charges come at a sensitive moment for U.S.-China relations. The United States has praised China for playing a key role in pressing North Korea to abandon its nuclear arms program and for arranging six-nation talks next week in Beijing about the nuclear dispute.

But in meetings with Chinese diplomats and also increasingly in public, U.S. officials have argued that China has failed to live up to a pledge made during bilateral talks in December to invite U.N. human rights investigators to examine allegations that China puts people in jail without giving them due process, restricts freedom of religion and allows torture in prisons. U.S. officials said China also promised in December to allow a U.S. commission on religious freedom to visit. But the trip was postponed this month after China insisted that the group refrain from visiting Hong Kong, where churches helped organize mass anti-government protests this summer.

"There were commitments made last December, and those commitments have not been met," Assistant Secretary of State Lorne Craner, the State Department's top human rights official, said in a telephone interview. "As far as we're concerned, the Chinese have not done well, and it's disappointing."

Craner said Bush decided not to introduce a resolution criticizing China at the annual session of the U.N. Human Rights Commission in April in part because of the pledges China had made. The United States has introduced a resolution every year for most of the past decade, angering the Chinese government.

Bush's decision came after Craner and other U.S. officials visited Beijing in March and China said it intended to keep its word, Craner said. The Chinese government also indicated it would meet U.S. requests to allow the International Committee of the Red Cross to open an office in Beijing, to declare that minors are entitled to religious instruction and to discuss parole reviews for political prisoners jailed under outdated laws, Craner said.

In addition, John Kamm, a human rights activist in San Francisco who often acts as an intermediary between China and the United States, said Chinese officials promised him in March that they would release two prisoners whose cases had been raised by U.S. officials.

But five months later, the Chinese government has yet to follow through. Instead, according to Kamm and U.S. officials, Chinese diplomats have questioned whether their government made any human rights commitments at all.

"There were 40 people in the room when these commitments were made in December," said one U.S. official involved in the talks. "Now what we're hearing from them is, 'What commitments?' "

"There's a lot of disappointment, very serious disappointment in Washington," Kamm said. "There were definitely promises made, including the release of prisoners, and they have not kept them. It's not just about human rights at this point. The question being raised in Washington now is, 'How much can we trust commitments that are made by the Chinese?' "

Asked about the U.S. complaints, the Chinese Foreign Ministry issued a statement that defended China's human rights record but did not deny the government had made promises to U.S. officials. "We are willing to carefully and skillfully handle the dispute in a constructive manner together with the American side," it said.

The dispute follows a period in which China avoided rhetoric dismissing human rights criticism as interference in its internal affairs and tried to address U.S. concerns, in part by releasing several well-known political prisoners and providing information about others.

But the government has not released a prominent dissident since January and instead has handed down over the past six months stiff sentences for several labor organizers, young liberal intellectuals and U.S.-based democracy activists. It also has failed to provide information about nearly half of the 230 prisoners about whom U.S. officials inquired in December.

The U.S. ambassador in Beijing, Clark Randt, has urged China to release seven prisoners in particular: Yang Jianli, a Boston-based democracy activist detained last year after entering China with a false passport; Rebiya Kadeer, a prominent businesswoman active in ethnic Uighur affairs; Su Zhimin, a bishop in the underground Catholic Church; Jiang Weiping, a journalist who exposed government corruption; Phuntsog Nyidron, a Tibetan nun jailed for advocating greater freedoms; Wang Youcai, one of the founders of the China Democracy Party; and Jude Shao, an American businessman arrested in 1998 on tax fraud charges.

U.S. officials said the Bush administration was particularly upset about China's failure to approve a visit by Theo van Boven, the U.N. special envoy on torture. U.S. diplomats had repeatedly pressed Chinese officials in December on the matter.

"I have written several letters to the Chinese authorities outlining my wishes and my program, and they have not yet responded," van Boven said, adding that he needs a reply within weeks if he is to visit China this year.

U.S. officials said it was unclear why the government has backed off on human rights. Some analysts say China's leaders may have decided they do not have to address U.S. human rights concerns because the Bush administration needs their cooperation in other areas, particularly in dealing with North Korea. Others blame the problem on personnel changes in the Foreign Ministry and suggest that the shift could be temporary, or that it is related to the leadership transition.

BEIJING, Aug. 20 -- The Bush administration has accused China of backsliding on human rights commitments it made to address U.S. concerns, including specific promises that helped persuade President Bush not to pursue a resolution condemning Beijing at a U.N. forum in Geneva this year.

The human rights charges come at a sensitive moment for U.S.-China relations. The United States has praised China for playing a key role in pressing North Korea to abandon its nuclear arms program and for arranging six-nation talks next week in Beijing about the nuclear dispute.

But in meetings with Chinese diplomats and also increasingly in public, U.S. officials have argued that China has failed to live up to a pledge made during bilateral talks in December to invite U.N. human rights investigators to examine allegations that China puts people in jail without giving them due process, restricts freedom of religion and allows torture in prisons. U.S. officials said China also promised in December to allow a U.S. commission on religious freedom to visit. But the trip was postponed this month after China insisted that the group refrain from visiting Hong Kong, where churches helped organize mass anti-government protests this summer.

"There were commitments made last December, and those commitments have not been met," Assistant Secretary of State Lorne Craner, the State Department's top human rights official, said in a telephone interview. "As far as we're concerned, the Chinese have not done well, and it's disappointing."

Craner said Bush decided not to introduce a resolution criticizing China at the annual session of the U.N. Human Rights Commission in April in part because of the pledges China had made. The United States has introduced a resolution every year for most of the past decade, angering the Chinese government.

Bush's decision came after Craner and other U.S. officials visited Beijing in March and China said it intended to keep its word, Craner said. The Chinese government also indicated it would meet U.S. requests to allow the International Committee of the Red Cross to open an office in Beijing, to declare that minors are entitled to religious instruction and to discuss parole reviews for political prisoners jailed under outdated laws, Craner said.

In addition, John Kamm, a human rights activist in San Francisco who often acts as an intermediary between China and the United States, said Chinese officials promised him in March that they would release two prisoners whose cases had been raised by U.S. officials.

But five months later, the Chinese government has yet to follow through. Instead, according to Kamm and U.S. officials, Chinese diplomats have questioned whether their government made any human rights commitments at all.

"There were 40 people in the room when these commitments were made in December," said one U.S. official involved in the talks. "Now what we're hearing from them is, 'What commitments?' "

"There's a lot of disappointment, very serious disappointment in Washington," Kamm said. "There were definitely promises made, including the release of prisoners, and they have not kept them. It's not just about human rights at this point. The question being raised in Washington now is, 'How much can we trust commitments that are made by the Chinese?' "

Asked about the U.S. complaints, the Chinese Foreign Ministry issued a statement that defended China's human rights record but did not deny the government had made promises to U.S. officials. "We are willing to carefully and skillfully handle the dispute in a constructive manner together with the American side," it said.

The dispute follows a period in which China avoided rhetoric dismissing human rights criticism as interference in its internal affairs and tried to address U.S. concerns, in part by releasing several well-known political prisoners and providing information about others.

But the government has not released a prominent dissident since January and instead has handed down over the past six months stiff sentences for several labor organizers, young liberal intellectuals and U.S.-based democracy activists. It also has failed to provide information about nearly half of the 230 prisoners about whom U.S. officials inquired in December.

The U.S. ambassador in Beijing, Clark Randt, has urged China to release seven prisoners in particular: Yang Jianli, a Boston-based democracy activist detained last year after entering China with a false passport; Rebiya Kadeer, a prominent businesswoman active in ethnic Uighur affairs; Su Zhimin, a bishop in the underground Catholic Church; Jiang Weiping, a journalist who exposed government corruption; Phuntsog Nyidron, a Tibetan nun jailed for advocating greater freedoms; Wang Youcai, one of the founders of the China Democracy Party; and Jude Shao, an American businessman arrested in 1998 on tax fraud charges.

U.S. officials said the Bush administration was particularly upset about China's failure to approve a visit by Theo van Boven, the U.N. special envoy on torture. U.S. diplomats had repeatedly pressed Chinese officials in December on the matter.

"I have written several letters to the Chinese authorities outlining my wishes and my program, and they have not yet responded," van Boven said, adding that he needs a reply within weeks if he is to visit China this year.

U.S. officials said it was unclear why the government has backed off on human rights. Some analysts say China's leaders may have decided they do not have to address U.S. human rights concerns because the Bush administration needs their cooperation in other areas, particularly in dealing with North Korea. Others blame the problem on personnel changes in the Foreign Ministry and suggest that the shift could be temporary, or that it is related to the leadership transition.
找人来翻译

反动的就拖出去毙了

估计也就是反动的
什么叫“人权”?