U.S. Has Slap, Embrace for China: Report on Rights Won't Stop Visit

Sieff, Martin, The Washington Times (Washington, DC)

The State Department showed China two faces yesterday, reaching out with the promise of a visit next month by Secretary Madeleine K. Albright while sharply slapping Beijing in its annual report on human rights.

China was singled out as one of the worst offenders in the report, which dealt with human rights observances by all of the world's 194 countries.

But Mrs. Albright, who will make Beijing a key stop on her first round-the-world tour as secretary, defended a policy of engagement with the world's rising superpower.

In releasing the report, Mrs. Albright told reporters the U.S. relationship with China was too important to be held hostage to human rights or any other single issue.

Even so, the department's harsh language on China's human rights record seems likely to lead to a new clash between Washington and Beijing.

The report warned that China last year was already undertaking "restrictive measures" that threatened "Hong Kong's civil liberties and political institutions . . . in anticipation of Hong Kong's reversion to Chinese sovereignty in July of 1997."

Hong Kong …

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Publication information: Article title: U.S. Has Slap, Embrace for China: Report on Rights Won't Stop Visit. Contributors: Sieff, Martin - Author. Newspaper title: The Washington Times (Washington, DC). Publication date: January 31, 1997. Page number: 1. © 2009 The Washington Times LLC. COPYRIGHT 1997 Gale Group.

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