Rights groups urge Clinton to press China on rights

Feb 21, 2009, 2:14 GMT

   Beijing - Rights groups on Saturday said they were 'shocked' by US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's apparently pragmatic approach to China's human rights record, urging her to 'do the right thing for the Chinese people.'

   Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and other groups said they were concerned by Clinton's remarks late Friday in Seoul, where she said the United States would still press China on rights issues.

   'But our pressing on those issues can't interfere on the global economic crisis, the global climate change crisis and the security crisis,' she said before travelling to Beijing.

   'Amnesty International is shocked and extremely disappointed by US Secretary Clinton's comments that human rights will not be a priority in her diplomatic engagement with China,' T Kumar, Amnesty's US advocacy director for the Asia-Pacific, said in a statement ahead of Clinton's meetings with Chinese leaders on Saturday.

   'The United States is one of the only countries that can meaningfully stand up to China on human rights issues,' Kumar said.

   'But by commenting that human rights will not interfere with other priorities, Secretary Clinton damages future US initiatives to protect those rights in China.'

   New York-based Human Rights Watch also said Clinton's comments 'send the wrong message to the Chinese government.'

   'Secretary Clinton's remarks point to a diplomatic strategy that has worked well for the Chinese government: segregating human rights issues into a dead-end 'dialogue of the deaf,'' Sophie Richardson, Asia advocacy director of Human Rights Watch, said.

   'A new approach is needed, one in which the US engages China on the critical importance of human rights to a wide range of mutual security interests,' Richardson said.

   In an earlier open letter to Clinton, Human Rights Watch urged her to raise a range of issues during her talks in China, including the Tibetan and Uighur minorities, media censorship, extra-judicial detentions and the used of torture.

   'Tibetans and Uighurs continue to suffer indiscriminate crackdowns on their rights, typically on the grounds that their peaceful calls for genuine autonomy are in fact a cover for 'separatist activity,'' the letter said.

   It said police torture of suspects 'remains a serious problem,' while the Chinese government 'continues to persecute those who publicly criticize it.'