China has responded defensively to allegations by the US that it is “backsliding” on human rights.
Reacting to his American counterpart, Richard Boucher’s statement on China’s alleged “backsliding” on human rights promises, Kong said the Chinese government rejected the US charge.
Kong claimed that the human rights situation in China has made “great progress” in the past few years, which has also received wide acclaim from the international community.[….]
Last December, China pledged during talks with the US to allow UN investigators to look into allegations that China jails people without due process, tolerates prison torture and restricts religious freedoms.
“Those visits have not yet taken place,” US State department spokesman Richard Boucher said.
I guess Kong missed the recent articles on the kind and gentle treatment of AIDS victims and the recent infamous ten-year prison terms for Internet essayists. Maybe he’s right, maybe there have been great strides. There’s also a ways to go, and it appears, unsurprisingly, that several specific promises were not kept.
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By Gaby
Very nice site!
September 16, 2005 @ 6:53 am | Comment