Скачать или смотреть USA: ANNUAL HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT

(26 Feb 1999) English/Nat

The U-S State Department is accusing China of going into reverse on human rights.

The State Department released its annual human rights report on Friday and it contained damning evidence of China's human rights abuses.

The critical assessment of China's treatment of its citizens comes on the eve of Secretary of State Madeleine Albright's departure for Beijing.

Government officials along with the media were queuing up on Friday for the U-S State Department's latest human rights report.

It reveals that China's human rights record deteriorated sharply late last year with a crackdown on political dissent that reversed recent signs of improvement.

In its annual report to Congress on worldwide human rights, the State Department said China's loosening of restrictions on political debate and activism in 1997 and most of 1998 ended abruptly last autumn.

During President Clinton's visit to Beijing last June, the Chinese people heard for the first time on television and radio uncensored comments on formerly taboo issues, such as human rights abuses and the crushing of the pro-democracy turnout at Tiananmen Square in 1989.

But the report says this trend was halted and China went into reverse on human rights beginning in November.

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"The government's human rights record deteriorated sharply at the end of 1998 with a crackdown against organised political dissent. The loosening of restrictions on political debate and activism by authorities for much of 1997 and 1998 abruptly ended this past fall."
SUPER CAPTION: Harold Koh, Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights

The human rights report comes on the eve of U-S Secretary of State Madeleine Albright's departure for Beijing.

It also comes a day after the Senate urged the Clinton administration to push for a resolution condemning China, at next months U-N Human Rights Commission meeting in Geneva.

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"This reports 100 pages of human rights violations in China. And I think every single courageous man and woman we've talked to from China who's stood up for human rights has said if there is - if the human rights commission meets in Geneva and there is not a resolution introduced, it would be so demoralising for the people in China. It would say that the international community doesn't care. Our country should take the lead."
SUPER CAPTION: Senator Paul Wellstone, Democrat, Minnesota

The report found that besides killings, torture of prisoners and forced confessions, Chinese officials began imposing new regulations on the Internet, the publishing industry and social organisations.

It closed several newspapers and barred politically sensitive publications.

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"I would say to the president today, the time for hesitation and indecision is over. The abuses are flagrant, the forum is before us and the decision is ours to make."
SUPER CAPTION: Senator Tim Hutchinson, Republican, Arkansas

Chinese dissident Wei Jingsheng, who now lives in the United States, says he would like to see the Clinton administration doing more to stop human rights abuses.

SOUNDBITE: (Mandarin)
"I think starting last year, it wasn't just me, but all Chinese people really lost faith in President Clinton because they felt he really wasn't taking the responsibility he should have been taking in representing the American people. And was engaging in what could only be considered a very mistaken policy towards China."
SUPER CAPTION: Wei Jingsheng, Chinese Dissident



SOUNDBITE: (English)



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