Chinese dissident urges Clinton to keep rights pressure (2nd Roundup)

Feb 21, 2009, 12:09 GMT

Beijing - A leading Chinese dissident on Saturday urged US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton not to allow greater cooperation on economic and other issues to reduce the pressure on China to improve human rights.

'The progress of human rights in China needs efforts from both inside and outside (the country),' Zeng Jinyan said when asked about Clinton's apparently pragmatic approach to China's human rights record.

'Human rights are always the most important,' Zeng told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

Overseas rights groups said they were 'shocked' 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,' Clinton said before travelling to Beijing.

They criticised her apparently pragmatic approach to China's human rights record, urging her to 'do the right thing for the Chinese people.'

'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',' said Sophie Richardson, Asia advocacy director of Human Rights Watch.

The China Human Rights Defenders (CHRD) on Saturday said police placed several well-known dissidents under house arrest or tighter surveillance before Clinton's visit.

CHRD said they included writers Jiang Qisheng and Yu Jie, lawyer Pu Zhiqiang and rights activist Li Zhiying, who were all among the 303 initial signatories of 'Charter '08,' a blueprint for democratic reform in China issued in December.

Zeng, who also signed the rights charter, said she was placed under house arrest by state security police on Saturday and prevented from meeting AIDS activist Gao Yaojie, who was reportedly invited to meet Clinton in Beijing.

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.'

After talks with Clinton on Saturday, Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said China hoped to continue dialogue on human rights with the United States to 'push forward the human rights situation on the premise of mutual respect and non-interference in each other's internal affairs.'