赖薇如王思佳:China, America to talk on human rights amid r...

来源：百度文库编辑：九乡新闻网时间：2024/04/30 14:41:20

China, America to talk on human rights amid rising tension

China U.S..jpg (41.06 KB)
2011-4-26 09:39

US Treasury Department on Monday has confirmed that top officials of China and America will meet in Washington next month to discuss differences over trade and currency policies. Will the increasing divergence on human rights affect the economic talks between the world's two biggest economies?

Tension precedes U.S.-China meeting on human rights

The United States and China will have their annual meeting on human rights this week, but there are signs that the session may be more tense than usual.

According to a statement issued by the State Department, the two sides are to meet Wednesday and Thursday in Beijing for what has become a regular springtime meeting on human rights.

But the statement was highly unusual for several reasons, not least because Washington made the announcement for a meeting to be held in Beijing — which runs counter to diplomatic protocol — and because it was made just days before the event.

Indeed, the Chinese government confirmed the meeting late Friday only after repeated calls to the Foreign Ministry. A day earlier, a ministry spokesman said details still had to be “discussed and arranged.”

“Objectively speaking, the announcement is being made at the last minute,” said Joshua Rosenzweig of the Dui Hua Foundation, a rights group in Hong Kong. “It’s also interesting that the U.S. is making it unilaterally and that they’re using this language.”

Besides the United States, other countries and the European Union have similar sessions, which usually take place in private once a year. Typically, Western countries bring up problems or lists of detained dissidents, and China responds by saying that it is a country ruled by laws, and that those people violated the law.

“Having the meeting now that so many human rights activists are missing puts the spotlight on the fact that these kinds of meetings are toothless,” said Nicholas Bequelin of Human Rights Watch in Hong Kong. “It’s a talk shop more than anything else.”

The pace of democracy, to each his own

On April 6, 2011, the U.S. Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman gave an eloquent speech at the Barnett-Oksenberg Lecture in Shanghai. In his speech, Ambassador Huntsman recalled his service to President Reagan's trip to China, demonstrated his knowledge of China's modern history, and highlighted challenges that are faced by both China and the U.S.

However, he singled out human rights as the difference between the U.S. and China. He said, "the United States will continue to champion respect for universal human rights, which is a fundamental extension of the American experience and a bedrock of our world view."

When Ambassador Huntsman projected "the fundamental extension of the American experience," did he take into consideration the almost 90 years of slavery in the United States? Or the Civil War that claimed over 600,000 American lives? Did he take into consideration another 90 years of Jim Crow laws of "Separate but Equal?" Did Ambassador Huntsman remember the segregation of public schools, public places, and public transportation, and the segregation of restrooms, restaurants, and drinking fountains for whites and blacks? Even the U.S. military was segregated while fighting the same war. How about the Sedition Act of 1918 and the McCarthyism in the 1940s and 1950s?

In the last 234 years, the U.S. has learned a lot from its past and created a system of its own that is suitable for the people of the United States. China is only a 60-year-old country. It too has lived through many turbulent times. It too is learning from its own past lessons. It too has its own ideal to form a more perfect union and insure domestic tranquility. And it too deserves to explore its own way for democratization and better protection of human rights.

For China, the number one priority is stability; this is a consensus among the government leaders and majority of the people. The Chinese people today are enjoying the greatest democracy, freedom, and human rights in their modern history, though their leaders also admit that China still has a lot to improve in these areas. China's democracy and human rights should continue to advance, while keeping the stability of its society, at its own pace, and with its own system.

Democracy between China and the United States might be different in pace, progress, and context, but the direction remains the same.

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