Chinese Envoy To Un Criticizes US On Failed Human Rights Resolution

Xinhua news agency, Beijing
15 Apr 04

(New China News Agency)

Geneva, 15 April: China has, once again, foiled an anti-China attempt
brewed by the United States when a “no-action ” motion it tabled was
passed by voting here Wednesday (14 April) at the 60th session of
the United Nations Commission on Human Rights.

This is China’s 11th victory over the US-led anti-China bid since 1990.

With 28 votes for, 16 against and 9 abstentions, the 53-member
commission approved the Chinese motion, thus rejecting the US draft
resolution against China before it was put to the vote.

In his statement before the vote, Chinese Ambassador Sha Zukang said
that if the logic of the United States – the human rights situation
in China “worsened sharply” – holds any truth, China would have
already backslid to the primitive stage. “Facts have shown that far
from backsliding, the human rights situation in China has advanced
significantly. Reacting from disappointment and jealousy, the US
came up with this anti-China resolution,” Sha told more than 500
participants at the meeting.

“The truth is that China is now under a new generation of leadership
who is inspired by the ideal of building a people-centred government
and is committed to do all it can in the interest of the people. Under
this government, the Chinese people have successfully overcome the
SARS epidemic and achieved an annual GDP growth rate of 9.1 per cent,”
he said.

A recent United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) report has
acknowledged the enormous progress made by China in achieving the
Millennium Goals and predicted that China could realize most of the
goals in the Millennium Declaration by the year 2015, he said.

Ambassador Sha described the US claim that China lacks basic freedoms
as pure distortion of facts and outright lying. “The truth is that
the Chinese people enjoy freedoms of speech, assembly, association,
religion and belief that are guaranteed by law,” he said.

“It is particularly noteworthy that last March the National People’s
Congress incorporated the concept of ‘the state respects and protects
human rights’ into the Chinese constitution, thus marking an important
milestone in China’s cause for promoting and protecting human rights,”
he added.

He briefed the session on China’s cooperation with international
human rights mechanism as well as human rights exchanges and dialogues
between China and more than a dozen countries.

Since the US has repeatedly refused visits by special rapporteur on
torture and other special mechanisms of the Human Rights Commission,
Sha said: “The US has no qualification to find fault with China and
nitpick China’s human rights situation.”

Although the United States claims that the resolution this year is
very mildly-worded, Ambassador Sha said: “It is only obvious that
the US resolution is nothing but a sugar-coated bullet. And even
masquerading as a mild resolution, its true purpose of obstinately
interfering in the affairs of other countries in order to serve its
domestic interests cannot be concealed.”

“Appointing itself as a ‘human rights defender’, the US picks on the
human rights situations of other countries at will, but says nothing
about its own disastrous human rights records. I cannot imagine how
such a grand superpower could be so cowardly,” he said.

Sha reiterated that China welcomes well-intentioned criticisms and
suggestions from other countries, but the US anti-China resolution
is “for the sole purpose of serving the interests of its domestic
presidential election, rather than that of genuine concern for human
rights”.

Of the 53 members now seating on the UN Commission on Human Rights,
those who voted for China’s no-action motion included Bahrain, Bhutan,
Brazil, Burkina Faso, Congo, Cuba, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia Gabon,
India, Indonesia, Mauritania, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Qatar, Russia,
Saudi Arabia, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Swaziland,
Togo, Ukraine, Zimbabwe and China.

Those who voted against the motion were Australia, Austria, Costa Rica,
Croatia, France, Germany, Guatemala, Honduras, Hungary, Ireland Italy,
Japan, Netherlands, Sweden, Britain and the United States.

And those voted with abstentions were from Argentina, Armenia, Chile,
Dominican Republic, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Republic of Korea and
Uganda.
From: Baghdasarian