The "Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2002" released
by the US State Department on April 1 (Beijing time) applies double
standards and is full of statements from unidentified sources,
according to an article written by a Chinese human rights expert.
Dong Yunhu, deputy-head and secretary-general of the China Society
for Human Rights Studies, said the document entitled "The Human
Rights Record of the United States in 2002" published by the
Information Office of the State Council on Thursday revealed many
facts and cases of infringements of human rights in the United
States.
"The document released by the Information Office of China's State
Council serves as an addition to the US report on human rights
practices for 2002, and as a correction of the double standards
applied by the United States in the report," said Dong in his
article.
Most of the censures against China in the US report lack identified
sources and use such ambiguous phrases as "reliable sources" and
"according to unproven reports" to cover its tracks, Dong went
on.
By
contrast, the document published by the Chinese Government lists a
great number of human rights abuses existing in the United States
by using official statistics and verifiable facts, said Dong.
"Facts show that the United States, with its poor human rights
record, is fully unqualified to criticize or point a finger at
China or any other country over their human rights status," said
Dong.
The US State Department has used plenty of words to censure China
in its annual human rights report since 1990, but starting from
last year, some changes have taken place, and a drop in the number
of words on China and use of such tempered wording as "positive
progress" have appeared in the annual human rights reports of the
United States, according to Dong.
The changes in the US human rights reports show that, in order not
to lose the trust of the world's people, the American
administration has had to make some corrections in its wording to
take into account China's human rights improvement, which is a
generally recognized fact.
The past decade has been the best period for China in terms of its
human rights status, recording its fastest human rights progress,
said Dong.
The Chinese human rights specialist said that while placing the
rights for subsistence and development on the top of every work
agenda, China has been fully pursuing human rights by realizing a
historical leap in the overall living standard of the Chinese
people from just having enough to eat and wear to a comparatively
affluent life, and by having established political and legal
systems to safeguard the democratic rights of the people.
During the past decade, Chinese people have seen remarkable
improvement both in their material and cultural life. From 1990 to
2002, the per capita disposable income of urban residents rose from
1,387 yuan to 7,703 yuan, while the per capita net income of rural
residents also rose from 682 yuan to 2,476 yuan.
The poverty-stricken rural population has dropped to 28.2 million
from 85 million, and the proportion of poverty-hit rural people in
the total rural population has also plunged from 10.1 percent to
the present three percent, Dong added.
By
the year 2002, the per capita living floor space for urbanites
approached 22 square meters, while that of rural residents had
increased to 26.5 square meters.
China has taken the top position in the world for boasting 421
million fixed-line phone and mobile phone subscribers. Home
appliances such as TV sets, refrigerators and washing machines have
become commonplace in Chinese households, and computers and cars
are also popular with a growing number of families.
Chinese people's health standard has kept improving along with the
improvement in medical conditions and health care service. The
average life span for Chinese people has risen from 70 years in
1988 to 71.8 years in 2002, nearing the level of moderately
developed countries.
In
the past decade, Chinese people have also witnessed notable
improvements in education, enjoying full participation in economic,
commercial and cultural activities such as the freedom in choosing
jobs, freedom of speech and freedom of publication, said Dong.
He
added that in the past decade, Chinese people have also seen an
intensified democratic and legal construction so that their rights
as citizens and their political rights are safeguarded in an
effective way.
It
is now widely recognized by people around the world without any
political prejudice that Chinese people today are enjoying
increasingly extensive human rights, said Dong.
He
cited as proof a report released by the United Nations Development
Program in July last year which indicated that China's human
development level for the first time exceeded the world average
level and ranked the 87th in the world.
The report also affirmed that China, while maintaining rapid
economic growth, has greatly promoted social reform, democracy and
its legal system construction, and has registered outstanding
achievements in improving people's living standards and eliminating
poverty.
However, Dong conceded that, limited by natural, historical and
economic factors, China still faces many problems in this regard
including the abuse of law, the relatively low medical security
level and the challenged rights and interests of farmers and
workers.
Some 28.2 million rural people, for instance, are still living
under poverty and another 85 million above the age of 15 are
completely or partially illiterate.
However, these are inevitable problems in the process of
development, and with the continuous progress of China's human
rights, which has been designated by both the Communist Party and
the government as a major task in the new century, such problems
will be gradually ironed out.
Dong believed that the US government, in total disregard of China's
progress, attacked China's human rights only out of ulterior
motives, which are to serve its politics of hegemony and to uglify
China's image, destroy its peace, block its development and then
make it further Westernized.
The world in recent years had witnessed an extreme inflation of
American unilateralism, Dong said.
In
defiance of the principles of the United Nations Charter and going
against the universally recognized norms governing international
relations, the United States repeatedly violated human rights and
the sovereignty of other nations, aiming at world hegemony, Dong
said.
Dong noted that the ongoing Iraq war was the most obvious
demonstration of the unilateralism of the United States.
Though most of the nations in the world voiced strong opposition,
the United States, with some of its allies, launched a war on Iraq
without the authorization of the Untied Nations, Dong said.
The United States was so arrogant, Dong said, that it would nitpick
at other nations' human rights issues by unilaterally publishing
the Country Reports on Human Rights Practices without the
authorization of the international community and support of
international law.
In
the United Nations Charter, one of the major tenets of the United
Nations is to promote international cooperation, boost and
encourage respect for human rights and basic freedom of the whole
humankind.
To
achieve this goal, Dong said, the United Nations and its member
nations should abide by the international principle of equal
sovereignty and non-interference in the internal affairs of other
nations.
Dong pointed out that the United States, which had no right to find
fault with other countries in regard of human rights, would be
opposed by the whole world for arrogantly overriding other
countries.
It
should be the shared mission of all nations to promote and protect
human rights, Dong said, and no country could ever boast a perfect
human rights record, and there was no such country qualified to act
as the judge of human rights in the international community.
Dong said different nations had different understandings and views
on the protection of human rights because of their different
histories, social systems, economic situations and cultural
traditions.
The differences were all quite natural and should not be used as a
pretext for interference in the internal affairs of other nations,
Dong said.
On
the contrary, Dong said, realizing the differences, each country
should learn from other countries' virtues in valuing human
rights.
Dong said it was far from proper to demand the whole world
mechanically copy a certain country's mode and experience in human
rights development.
A
country's own history, culture, social situation and economic
development should be taken into consideration when reviewing and
evaluating its human rights situation, Dong said.
Human rights problems should be addressed mainly by the government
and the people of the country concerned, while solving human rights
problems needed the joint efforts of governments and peoples of all
countries, Dong said.
Each country should promote the development of human rights by
addressing the problems in its own country in line with its own
situation, Dong said.
Dong said the United States should not neglect its own human rights
problems while concentrating its attentions on criticizing other
countries in its annual human rights report.
(Xinhua News Agency April 4, 2003)