(AFP) Beijing – US ambassador to China Clark Randt vowed Monday to
bring China to task over its dismal human rights record, despite a recent
warming trend between Beijing and Washington.
The US diplomat also demanded substantive results from a December 16
US-China dialogue on human rights in Beijing.
“If China wants to be accepted as both a respected and responsible member of
the international community, then China must abide by certain
internationally-accepted forms of behavior,” Randt told members of the
American Chamber of Commerce in Beijing.
“During my tenure as ambassador I have continuously and persistently raised
cases of prisoners of conscience as well as humanitarian cases involving
victims of China’s evolving legal system… No other single issue receives
more of my personal attention.”
Randt noted several Chinese political prisoners that Washington wanted
released — including Xu Wenli, jailed for 13 years in 1998 for setting up
the China Democracy Party, and Rebiya Kadeer, a Uighur businesswomen jailed
for eight years for leaking state secrets.
He also called for the release of Su Zhimin, a Catholic bishop who
disappeared after being arrested in Hebei in October 1987, and businessman
Liu Yaping, a US permanent resident who has been held without charges in
Inner Mongolia for nearly two years.
China’s legal system is “a system that is all too often marred with a lack
of due process and a blatant disregard for its own rules,” Randt said.
“We demand more than talk; we demand results,” from the upcoming dialogue,
he said.
Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy and Human Rights Lorne Craner was
to lead the US delegation in the first such talks since October 2001.
Since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States, China
has cooperated with the US-led campaign against terrorism and has met a
series of US demands with pledges to control the proliferation of weapons of
mass destruction, Randt acknowledged.
He also noted that in a year with an unprecedented three meetings between
presidents George W. Bush and Jiang Zemin, China has also released several
prisoners of conscience, including three prominent Tibetan religious
figures.
The ambassador also urged that US companies doing business in China use
their clout to promote human rights and religious freedom by establishing
systems of corporate responsibilty.
“American companies and their representatives in China can and should lead
by example. One important way American companies can contribute in this
regard is through good corporate social responsibility programs,” he said.
http://www.ptd.net/webnews/wed/ba/Qchina-us-rights.RtiL_CNP.html
Posting date: 28/Nov/2002
Original article date: 25/Nov/2002
Category: Media Reports
