DATE=3/8/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=CHINA-HUMAN RIGHTS (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-259987
BYLINE=LETA HONG FINCHER
DATELINE=WASHINGTON
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:


INTRO:  Congress conducted a special hearing Wednesday 
on the State Department's latest reports on human 
rights practices in 1999.  The spotlight was on China 
and as V-O-A's Leta Hong Fincher reports, many 
lawmakers are saying they will oppose President 
Clinton's proposed trade deal with China because of 
Beijing's poor human rights record.

TEXT:  The hearing before the U-S House of 
Representatives Subcommittee on International 
Operations and Human Rights covered a wide range of 
countries, but lawmakers focused their questioning on 
China.  Assistant Secretary for Democracy, Human 
Rights and Labor, Harold Koh, testified that China's 
human rights record deteriorated sharply in 1999.

            /// KOH ACT ///

      In China, authorities broadened and intensified 
      their efforts to suppress those perceived to 
      threaten government power or national stability.  
      Citizens who sought to express openly dissenting 
      political and religious views faced widespread 
      repression.

            /// END ACT ///

Mr. Koh pointed to widespread arrests of political 
dissidents, to a nationwide crackdown against the 
spiritual group, Falun Gong, to mistreatment of 
prisoners and to repression of minorities such as 
Tibetans and Uighurs.  As a result of the worsening 
human rights situation, Mr. Koh said the State 
Department is pushing for a resolution against China 
at the United Nations Human Rights Commission in 
Geneva.

But despite the strong language of the State 
Department's human rights report, Mr. Koh was 
criticized by subcommittee members for not being harsh 
enough on China.  Representative Christopher Smith, 
the chairman of the Subcommittee, accused the State 
Department of not being aggressive enough in its 
report on China's one-child family planning policy, 
which Mr. Smith says has resulted in forced abortions, 
female infanticide and a high female suicide rate.

            /// SMITH ACT ///

      I have been sickened by the international 
      community's pooh-poohing of the issue, glossing 
      it over, saying that was yesterday, not today, 
      there's always light at the end of the tunnel, 
      even though the internal documents that we keep 
      getting copies of and the evidence being 
      manifested in the field, shows that women are 
      being dealt with so cruelly.

            /// END ACT ///

Mr. Smith said the United States still has a long way 
to go to integrate human rights into the mainstream of 
its foreign policy, and called on fellow lawmakers to 
deny permanent normal trade relations status to 
Beijing.

Despite such opposition, Clinton administration 
officials as well as Republican Party leaders in 
Congress say they believe there are enough votes to 
approve the new trade deal with China. (Signed)

NEB/LHF/ENE/JP




08-Mar-2000 16:21 PM EDT (08-Mar-2000 2121 UTC)
NNNN

Source: Voice of America
.